Hartford Public Schools will eliminate almost 400 jobs for the 2024-25 school year.
Leaders at the public school district for Connecticut’s capital city announced the changes at a public meeting, CT insider reported Thursday.
Exactly 387 positions will be cut, including 156 general teaching jobs and 158 administration spots, according to the Hartford Courant. Additionally, 34 direct service positions will be slashed.
District costs have skyrocketed in the past 10 years, while funding from the city has remained flat, the Courant reported. According to Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, the steepest increases were caused by the state’s school choice system.
Students in Hartford can either attend Hartford Public Schools or magnet schools managed by the Capitol Region Education Council, which draw students from a lottery process. But Hartford Public Schools must pay tuition costs for Hartford students attending CREC schools.
Those tuition costs are expected to reach $122 million next year, Torres-Rodriguez told the Courant. She said CREC has increased tuition by $2,400 per student in the past three years alone.
The defections to CREC schools create a two-fold problem for Hartford Public Schools, as costs increase while enrollment decreases. Since the 2016-17 school year, enrollment in Hartford Public Schools has declined by more than 4,000 students, with the biggest drop occurring in the 2020-21 pandemic year.
Additionally, emergency COVID pandemic funding from the federal government will run out next year, according to the Courant. The district says it will face a $77 million deficit.
“Some of these [positions] are currently vacant and others are funded by ESSER, so they were always considered to be temporary,” Torres-Rodriguez told the paper. “Nonetheless, these reductions will have an impact on our schools and our district.”
