Danbury superintendent presents roughly $194.5 million ‘lights on’ budget, warns staffing cliff could harm services

Superintendent Cara presented a proposed $194.46 million operating budget for the Danbury School District at a board workshop, saying the request is intended to "hold the lights on" amid rising enrollment, the loss of one‑time federal funding and acute staffing shortages.

Cara said the district’s enrollment stood at 12,014 as of Jan. 21 and that the district now has the state’s largest share of multilingual learners by percentage — about 38 percent — with roughly 4,541 students identified as multilingual learners and an economically disadvantaged rate near 57 percent. She said students with disabilities are about 15 percent of enrollment.

The superintendent framed the proposal as a response to multiple cost drivers: restoring staff lost during earlier budget years, absorbing positions funded temporarily with ARPA funds, higher transportation and operational costs tied to opening a satellite academy (DHS West), and contractual salary increases. Cara said the budget “represents what we need to be functional and operational,” adding that the district remains "catching up on year‑to‑year growth and a decade of underbudgeting."

Why it matters: Cara and several board members stressed the budget’s local consequences. Without the proposed funding, the superintendent said, the district risks larger class sizes, reduced intervention services and continued reliance on costly third‑party staffing contractors and agencies. That reliance, Cara said, raises both dollar costs and operational complexity: district staff and union leaders have agreed to limited outsourced help where filling positions internally has been infeasible.

Key details from the presentation and discussion

- Total ask and context: Cara described the total proposed budget as about $194.46 million (presented in the packet as "194,464"), an increase the superintendent said represents a sizable one‑year rise; she also noted that compared with a hypothetical fully funded baseline from the prior year the increase would be approximately 7.2 percent. At another point in the packet the total increase figure was described as about 21 percent relative to an unspecified comparison point in the slides.

- One‑time federal funds and cliffs: The district included $7.5 million of positions previously supported with ARPA dollars in the proposal; Cara called the end of those one‑time funds a "mini cliff" that must be reckoned with in the operating budget. She said the district had secured the city approvals and timelines required to spend ARPA funds through 2026.

- Staffing and restorations: Cara said the district eliminated roughly 68 open positions in prior budget cycles and that about 29 positions are now a priority to restore. Contractual increases across salary lines were described in the presentation (Cara cited roughly $4.5 million for contractual increases). The superintendent emphasized an immediate need to raise paraeducator pay and cited a proposed competitive paraprofessional staffing model that the packet placed in the multimillion‑dollar range.

- Paraeducators and classroom impacts: Cara and multiple board members stressed that paraeducators serve as essential second adults in classrooms — supporting small‑group instruction, language access and special education services — and that vacancies are driving classrooms to unsafe or ineffective staffing levels. Cara described scenes in which intervention groups that should number five children were instead 12, and said teacher burnout and higher substitute costs were downstream consequences.

- Academy (DHS West) and associated costs: The packet lists the opening and phased roll‑up of a satellite academy (DHS West) as an approximately $10.04 million driver, including start‑up staffing, transportation and additional operational needs. Cara said the academy will open initially for grades 10 and 11 and add grade 12 later as part of a slow roll‑up to help manage overcrowding at the larger high school.

- Transportation, meals and other drivers: The superintendent identified transportation increases (about $2.2 million), a school‑lunch operational cost of roughly $360,000 tied to opening a new site, technology replacement and infrastructure needs, higher maintenance and utility costs, and benefits increases (a slide cited about $4.47 million in benefit cost growth).

- Special education and multilingual services: The presentation included new and restored positions for special education and multilingual learner services: bilingual educators at the high school, additional bilingual staff across K‑8 and family‑liaison positions. Cara said mandated services and out‑of‑district placements continue to push special education costs up.

Board questions and next steps

Board members pressed for shared language about what "lights on" means, for lists that distinguish one‑time from ongoing costs, and for detail on nonunion (exempt) personnel schedules. Several board members also recommended targeted outreach to the mayor, city council and state legislators to explain the district’s request and urged the superintendent to begin community outreach once the board has a final package.

No final vote on the budget was taken at the workshop; the superintendent said formal adoption could come at an upcoming board meeting if members felt ready to act. The meeting concluded without other district policy actions.

Ending

Cara and board members said they would continue refining detail in the packet (including explicit nonunion salary information and a clearer roll‑forward calculation) and pursue outreach to city and state officials. The board adjourned after a brief motion to end the workshop.