Hartford Public Schools has announced that the district will be cutting nearly 400 positions next school year in the face of a massive budget deficit.

The district, which faces a $77 million deficit, said the cuts are necessary because of soaring costs and stagnant funding from the city. Hartford Public Schools has operated under a financial deficit for the last several years with the district slashing vacancies and cutting positions year after year.

“Despite modest increases in revenue from the state, we are in an unfortunate reality that requires staff reductions across the board because city funding has remained flat for the last 10 years and tuition costs through the School Choice system have ballooned to $122,000,000, up 200% over the same time,” Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez said in a news release.

The plan is to cut 387 positions across the district, which includes 67 at the district’s central administrative office and 320 across schools or 11% of total school staff members, according to Torres-Rodriguez.

“Some of these are currently vacant and others are funded by ESSER, so they were always considered to be temporary. Nonetheless, these reductions will have an impact on our schools and our district,” Torres-Rodriguez said.

According to HPS spokesperson Jesse Sugarman, 156 general teaching positions will be cut and 158 administration, counseling, social work and non-special-needs paraeducator positions will be on the chopping block. In addition, 34 direct service positions including instructional coaches, school health providers, school psychologists and speech and language specialists will be cut. Several school security positions will also be cut.

The district points to ballooning operating costs, a decline in student enrollment, loss of federal funds and continued flat funding on the city level for necessitating the cuts.

The district’s federal pandemic relief ESSER funds provided critical funding for the last several years but that has all but dried up. HPS received three federal COVID-19 relief grants totaling just over $154 million to be spent through September 2024. The remaining $60 million in funds have now been completely allocated out through the 2024-25 school year, according to the district’s budget.

With the expiration of the ESSER funds, overall revenue for the district is decreasing by $41.74 million or 8.9%, according to the HPS budget.

In addition, Mayor Arunan Arulampalam’s recent $623 million budget proposal keeps education funding flat with no additional increases. Education spending, to which the city allocates $284 million, represents zero increase over the last decade despite rising costs. He contends the majority of district funding comes from the state.

Arulampalam could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“We recognize the city of Hartford faces many financial difficulties and systemic challenges, including a limited tax base, but the city has the ability to fund HPS above the minimums outlined by the state and the investment in public education would yield a return in investment for Hartford,” Sugarman said.

Also at issue is a decline in student enrollment between Hartford Public Schools and the Capitol Region Education Council or CREC, which operates interdistrict magnet schools that draw interested students by lottery from Hartford and the surrounding suburbs. Torres-Rodriguez has said that the district has seen increased enrollment of Hartford students at CREC schools, which has added to costs. The district must pay tuition for Hartford students who enroll at CREC schools and also loses funding due to decreased enrollment figures within the district.

Since the 2016-17 school year, enrollment across HPS has decreased by more than 4,000 students. The largest decrease in enrollment came during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with a loss of more than 1,100 students during the 2020-21 school year. Since 2010, the district has seen a 21% decrease in enrollment and a 197% increase in magnet and open choice tuition costs, according to the district.

“One of the biggest deficit drivers is an increase in tuition per student from CREC over three years from 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2024-25. It’s an increase of $2,400 per student spread out over three years. The total impact of the combined loss of revenue and the higher tuition costs is a projected $8.6 million,” Torres-Rodriguez previously told the Courant.

Special education is another driver.

“Tuition costs, largely special ed, have increased by 200% since 2010-11. HPS is projected to pay $122 million in tuition costs next year while the overall pie of revenue has remained the same. That means there is less to allocate to schools and district services for current HPS students,” Sugarman said.

Hartford Public Schools spent approximately $156 million on special education, including $21 million in transportation costs, last year alone. Staff and programmatic needs for in-district special education students cost around $23,000 per student per year or $68 million total and those numbers are expected to continue to rise.

“The bottom line is that this will have an impact on our students and our teachers in the form of larger class sizes, while maintaining class size restrictions, and potentially fewer course offerings,” Sugarman said. “All student need as determined by IEP will be met and all courses required for graduation will be offered, but our students deserve more than that.”

Carol Gale, president of the Hartford teachers union, said the cuts will have far-ranging impacts on students and teachers.

“There will be less support for teachers, less ability to get someone to help out when there is a child acting out in a class,” Gale said. “Many of those support roles teachers rely on will simply not be there. With less teachers there will also be less course offerings. The cool courses like psychology that have been popular may not be available. Many of the AP classes or world language classes at younger grades may not be offered. So students will have less choices and teachers will have less support.”

Gale said that she is concerned that public education has seen an erosion of funding over the last several years. The Education Enhancement Act, passed in 1986, was credited as a lifeline for public educators raising both pay and prestige of the profession. Gale said she would like to see another “shot in the arm” to educators from lawmakers in Hartford to once again boost the education profession.

“We have been seeing at all levels of government, less support for public education and that is a problem. Public education is the foundation of our society, we need to have educated people,” Gale said. “Certainly the bulk of any school system comes from local government and taxes. We need to see greater support for education and investment. We know historically teachers have had low salaries. We need that same kind of shot in the arm now to save this profession.”

Hartford Board of Education President Philip Rigueur could not be reached for comment Thursday.