Norwalk officials, parents and educators spar over 9.7% school budget request as city warns of tax pressure

Norwalk City and Board of Education finance leaders and residents debated the proposed FY 2025–26 operating budget at a joint meeting Wednesday, centered on the Board of Education’s 9.7% spending request and the city’s options to cover rising costs without sharply raising property taxes.

The Board of Education approved the superintendent’s recommended budget on Jan. 14, calling for a 9.7% increase — about $22.6 million — to cover contractual obligations, growing special-education and multilingual-learner costs, transportation and health-insurance increases. At the same time, city finance officials warned the combined set of pressures — a multi-year real-estate revaluation phase-in, state-mandated changes to motor-vehicle taxation, pension funding adjustments and higher health-insurance and transportation costs — could push median household taxes materially higher if left unaddressed.

Why it matters: The board’s spending request would preserve school-based staff and programs that parents, teachers and union leaders said are essential to student safety and instruction. City officials said many of the biggest cost drivers are out of local control or recurring and that one-time use of reserves would not solve structural gaps.

Public testimony at the meeting was dominated by parents, teachers and union leaders urging the council to fund as much of the board’s request as…