School finances are a nightmare. Hundreds of teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists, literacy coaches and more could be cut as school officials respond to yet another flatline budget.
Over the past couple of nights the hand wringing has played out at Board of Education meetings. The timing of this teeth gnashing is curious. Why didn’t Superintendent of Schools John Ramos crack the alarm bell in April during the budget-making process? In the old days Superintendent of Schools Jim Connelly packed the City Council chambers during public hearings screaming for more loot. If you stop yelling, everything is fine, no? Barely a peep was heard this year. The job of superintendent and Board of Education members is to worry about the kids and effectiveness of the district, not worry about the taxpayer. Let the mayor and City Council worry about the taxpayer. There’s a flip side to this from the long-suffering taxpayer: yeah, baby, cut that education budget!
Are these job cuts and programs cuts good medicine for a troubled school district? Or is this an educational Bermuda triangle?
What say you?
(Check out my daily webzine www.onlyinbridgeport.com)
word is that the current contract is a hoax and members shouldn’t vote for it.
The schools in Bridgeport are heated over the weekend. We no longer keep chocolate in the classroom, because it’s so hot chocolate turns into soup by Monday.
On very cold days classrooms keep their windows open to keep the room temperature bearable.
How much is that costing?
Hey Len, let’s start with Ramos’ $250,000 salary and go from there. Since there is no accountibility until his contract runs out I don’t see any other way. and…once he is gone don’t pay such high rent for a low rent tenant.
Ah, yes, the long-tooth sage Con Filardi, Mr. Whiner Extraordinaire from Black Rock has come out from under his rock. You want a little cheese to go with that whine, Con? Yes, I do pay Bridgeport taxes. Three quarters of Bridgeport’s education budget comes from the state financed by tax dollars from suburban guys like me. I’m not suggesting that taxes be raised, but if the BOE wants more loot it’s in a better position to make that case during the budget-making cycle, not after it. But since you’re joining the debate I’d scrap the BOE, blow it up, ask the state to come in and take it over. Maybe then we’ll find out, as you suggest, the real cost solutions. Since you’ve declared yourself a genius about BOE spending please enlighten us about where to make cuts. Where would you start?
Hey Lennie:
Aren’t you a resident of Redding? Do you pay Bridgeport taxes? If I were you I wouldn’t be pontificating about increasing the BOE budget and the resulting increase in Bridgeport’s mill rate.
You might take a look at how the BOE is squandering the funding it’s now receiving in lieu of telling Bridgeport residents to pony up more money in taxes.
Hey Lennie, What happen to Rob Russo $250k Comprehensive Audit of the BOE?
That the Tax prayers of this State payed for,and Who tank it?
Sadly, these problems are not just only in Bridgeport, but are nationwide. In my county, we are seeing huge cuts in our school system plus teacher furlough days that are crippling our already no-so-hot education system.
However, I think our school leaders are screaming for more money, but they fact is that it’s just not there.
I am writing you today to express my deepest frustration on the matter of the education budget and proposed jobs and programs cuts. I cannot understand for the life of me how we (the city of Bridgeport ) have gotten our selves into this mess. I grew up in this once great city and now it disheartens me every time I hear anything about the city these days. From the forbes article on our city bonds rating to the cartoon show depicting the city as a nuclear dump. And now we have managed to gamble on the future of our city and futures of our kids. This subject matter really hits home with me because being a student in the city of Bridgeport I believe puts you behind a little in comparison to other towns and cities in the state. I’ve experienced this first hand with myself in my studies through life, and now with the proposals of more teacher cuts, increased size of classrooms how can we expect our city to flourish? How can we expect a level playing field in terms of education ?? I challenge you mayor and the your administration including the BOE to come to a resolution that does not take the future from our kids. The city was awarded 135 million… Now I do pretend to know all the technicalities of the budget and what goes in to managing it, but I do know one thing the future of our kids and our city is at stake here.
RAMOS wants to pack the kids in classrooms like sardines, and then yell at the principals to bring up cmt test scores……..
No doubt this situation didn’t just sneak up on the city gov’t or the school district administration. This would have happened last year if it weren’t for stimulus funds. There has been no long range plan evident in school district plans for quite a long time. Every other organization seems to have one that there are able to articulate. At this time in education when middle school and high school kids struggle to read, we do not need any cuts. It is the most certain of self-destructive courses. Being “college ready” seems more like a fairy tale.
There needs to be clear accountability for all players in the school budget. There should be an openly published budget plan detailing how every dollar is spent. This happens in most other municipalities but never seems to happen here. Of course, we have detrimental financial practices such as the BOE budget being intertwined with the city budget. But that is another issue altogether.
Also, if there is something that does NOT results, it needs to be terminated. The National Urban Alliance costs the BOE budget $350,000.00, yet there are no measurable outcomes proving that it is making a difference in the quality of education received. Somehow there needs to be an outside agency with the authority to make accountability happen since we can seem to do it ourselves. Our city is rife with nepotism, favoritism, and other forms of abuse that are problematic at best.
As an active member of the community, I know that Bpt, kids are our most precious asset. My question is: what will happen in our city when students who need these services and support don’t get it? What will happen to the growing number of high school students who will have to take remedial courses in college? We will pay for this. I pray that we can leverage the power to change this system as soon as possible.
Ramos should resign or be fired over this. The budget has a been an issue for years. He knew there would be problems. Now he finally brings a budget up in June, when there are only two weeks left in the school year. The budget should have been proposed months ago.
There are lots of ways to save money that no one is addressing – lights left on all night, heat on in the warm weather, printing way too much and wasting paper, no-show jobs, too many administrators. Why weren’t these addressed?
No one really knows where all the money goes either. It doesn’t go to the teachers, classrooms, or students, that’s for sure. A full accounting of every dollar spent and every job in the district is needed NOW!
Maybe Ramos can give back part of his outrageous salary to help out and maybe sell a few of his suits to help.