CT school district cuts record number of positions, sports programs

About 130 Enfield Public Schools positions are slated to be cut along with all middle school and some high school sports as a result of budget cuts approved Wednesday.

At an emotional meeting Wednesday night, the Board of Education passed a $77 million budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. This amount, allocated last week by the local council, was well below the Council’s request of $82.5 million, which would have been an increase of 8.68%. The local council said this sum was too much for taxpayers to bear.

“This is a very sad day for Enfield and for public education in general,” said Andrew Longey, interim superintendent. “I want to remind everyone that for every post and program, there is a real person behind it. These professionals have dedicated their careers here and we are destroying their livelihoods, their family lives and I’m sure their mental well-being. It’s just not a good day.”

Drastic cuts include professors, deans, behavioral technicians and central office positions. All middle school and ninth grade sports were also cut along with many extra services and programs. The last time Enfield laid off teachers was in 2010, when 27 jobs were cut, according to the district.

“This is personal, this is my children’s future,” said BOE member Amanda Pickett. “EPS students are all our children. As a board, we must be fierce advocates for our students. They are the reason we are here. So when I see valuable supports, resources, programs and 130 employees stolen, I am angry. These are the resources that I, as a mother before I was ever a member of the Council, came to and begged for. You can’t ask our district to improve test scores and give us resources for unmanageable classes.”

Among the 130 school staff positions are 45 non-tenured and 22 tenured teachers, increasing the average class size in the district by up to 28 students per classroom.

Staff reductions include approximately 21 positions at Enfield High School, approximately 14 at John F. Kennedy Middle School, 7 at Prudence Crandall, 5.5 positions at Edgar H. Parkman, 5.5 at Eli Whitney, 9 at Henry Barnard, 4.5 at Enfield Street School and 5.5 at Hazardville Memorial. In addition, there are 14 administrative positions per block and 20 elementary specialist positions. Five positions at the Stowe Early Learning Center are to be cut along with 18 behavioral technicians. Some positions are listed as non-whole numbers due to part-time employees.

“What gives elected officials the right to think they know more about the day-to-day operations of our schools?” said BOE member Tina LeBlanc. “In the coming weeks you will hear about how well the Enfield did in its testing and I can tell you that we have improved. We were working to improve and you know how we did it? With all those extra supports being put in place. Because the teachers could teach and have support not only for themselves but also for our children.”

At issue are rising costs, which Longey said were largely unanticipated or unaccounted for in the budget, including huge increases in insurance and special education costs. Insurance costs rose from 9.2 percent to 11.5 percent, or $2.1 million, according to Longey. Special education cost the city an additional $500,000 because of a realignment of state funding, according to the district. Other professional service costs for school psychologists, occupational therapists and physical therapists have also increased.

“This year we were promised 91 percent of the excess cost-sharing grant, so we budgeted for next year,” Loney said. “Just a few months ago, I found out the state had a readjustment for everyone and I went down to 67 percent. That’s half a million dollars that we haven’t adjusted for in our budget.”

But Enfield Mayor Ken Nelson Jr. blamed the real reason for the cuts on the Board of Education hiring staff with federal pandemic relief dollars even though it knew those funds would run out. Nelson said the city will not be asked to raise taxes now, despite a 16 percent increase in taxes over the past two years, he said.

“For them to ask for 8.6% is not sustainable, you can’t continue to fund like that,” Nelson said. “They hired employees with COVID money, which you shouldn’t do. Because what happens when the money runs out? They hired 67 new employees if you look at their budget at about $60,000 per employee, which is closer to $3.9 million. They moved the grant-funded positions to the full-time employee line item, but they were never budgeted. So now we are here and they have no money to pay him. It’s not something you can blame the local council for. We didn’t hire 67 employees with one source of income, they did. I mean, when you sit down and do your annual projection, you’re not projecting that you’re going to get a winning lottery ticket. But that’s exactly what they did.”

Nelson said he is concerned about cuts to middle school and high school sports programs. Enfield is a pay-to-play town, meaning parents must pay a fee for their children to participate in athletic programs. Students are charged $100 to participate per sport each school year. The mayor said he will fight to make sure those programs aren’t cut.

“I will do everything in my power to bring sports back to our schools,” Nelson said. “Because for a lot of kids, the only reason they stay focused in school is because of sports.”

Stephen Underwood can be reached at [email protected]