Op-Ed: Decision To Cut Education Budget Will Hurt Students

During the 2020-21 budget season, COVID-19 raged through our community. Consequently, the Board of Education proposed an increased budget to account for the extra costs associated with opening the district during a pandemic. In an effort to keep the tax rate flat, the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen intentionally underfunded the BOE budget by over $3.5 million and used the savings from the 2019-2020 school year, when schools were closed, to cover this shortage.

Fast-forward to the present 2021-22 budget season, and all the savings from prior years have been spent. So the BOE was forced to request a higher than normal increase in funding to not only cover the underfunded amount from the prior year, but also the costs associated with closing academic gaps and providing for student social-emotional needs resulting from the pandemic. Viewed over a two-year period, the BOE funding requests have averaged 3.36 percent per year. However, due to the prior manipulation outlined above, the requested increases showed as 1.56 percent in 2020-21 and 5.32 percent in 2021-22.

Unfortunately, First Selectwoman Kupchick chose to portray the large BOE increase as unreasonable and has cut the budget by $2.25 million. This is despite the fact that it is the BOS’s and the BOF’s actions that created the need for the large increase in the BOE budget. In her announcement of the cut she stated, "Our residents cannot afford a nearly 6 percent increase to the Board of Education budget." Yet Fairfield remains the 17th wealthiest town in Connecticut with a AAA bond rating, fully funded surpluses and housing values that have risen more than 20 percent over the last year.

READ MORE: Parents Rally At Town Hall After $2M School Budget Cut Proposed

The truth is that the BOE has been implementing cost-saving structural change for over a decade. Since the last recession, Fairfield’s per-pupil expenditure has dropped from 33rd in the state to 78th. Most of these savings don’t show up as major reductions in the budget because school districts are highly regulated and take on extra costs whenever there are new state or federal mandates or special events that require spending. For example, the extra cost to open schools during the pandemic has been over $2 million. Hence, savings from structural changes have often been overwhelmed by unavoidable expenses.

Since 2009-2010 the BOE has requested from the town $67,767,361 in increases and the town has approved 66 percent of that amount. The BOE has found creative ways to accommodate the reductions without affecting programs and services. Unfortunately, postponing maintenance projects and cutting professional development isn’t going to save $2.25 million. The first selectwoman’s budget cuts will have a profound effect on programs and services for students.

The town of Fairfield is at a crucial point with its school district where the decrease in funding will substantially impact education quality. There is a limit to how much harder and smarter people can work. If the town wants its school-aged children to receive the education that they need and deserve, then the education budget needs to be funded at the level requested by the BOE.

Bob Smoler

President, Fairfield Education Association