New Haven School District proposes $252.6 million operating budget as special‑education and transportation costs rise

New Haven School District Superintendent Daphne Negron on March 23 asked the Board of Education to support a $252.6 million operating budget request for fiscal year 2027, saying the proposal is intended to “protect the investments that made all of those successes possible.” The administration said it can reduce the request to $232.1 million by using roughly $20 million in targeted grants and special funds, but warned that practice would continue to tie core staffing to non‑permanent revenue.

The proposal, delivered in a detailed presentation by Negron and CFO Emil Car Hernandez, frames personnel costs as the largest driver of the district budget and points to sharp increases in special‑education enrollment and transportation as the primary pressure points. “Special education students make up about 18% of our enrollment, yet that 18% requires 33% of our general fund budget,” Negron said, citing a special‑education operating budget of roughly $72,000,000.

Car Hernandez said the district currently relies on grant and special‑fund support for a large share of staffing and warned that reliance creates risk. “About 899 FTEs — roughly 34% of our workforce — rely on grants,” he said. The CFO argued that using one‑time or competitive grants to pay ongoing staff is unsustainable and urged a funding mix that puts core positions onto the general fund. He pushed back on local criticism about the transportation line, saying, in response to an assertion of a “debacle,” that “there is no debacle” and that the…