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Teachers, parents and students press Hartford council to fix school facilities and restore staff
Summary
Dozens of speakers at the April 1 budget hearing described broken bathrooms, mold, closed gyms, lost librarians and cuts to tutoring and advanced coursework; many urged the council to use reserves, prioritize capital projects for school repairs and apply pressure on the state to close a $74.5 million school funding gap.
During the public comment portion of the Hartford City Council's April 1 budget hearing, teachers, parents, students and community organizers delivered sustained testimony about conditions in Hartford Public Schools and urged immediate action.
Speakers recounted a litany of operational problems: classrooms and bathrooms lacking doors or functioning fixtures, recurring mold and pest reports, intermittent heat and unsafe flooring, closed gyms and auditoriums, and damaged school kitchens. Several parents and teachers said librarians, tutors and para-educators had been cut and that remaining staff are covering multiple roles. "My daughter has been in this school for 13 years...the quality of the school has been decreasing," parent Louise Tobar said when describing the loss of advanced-placement courses at her child's school.
Teachers and principals described repeated staffing losses and curriculum reductions that they said have left the district unable to deliver language, science and enrichment programs that once distinguished Hartford schools. Principal Lindseay Thompson said the district has cut hundreds of positions and is operating "with the absolute bare minimum to operate as schools." Multiple speakers asked the city to direct discretionary funds to protect classroom positions and to preserve services like reading tutors and libraries.
Students also addressed the council. Seventh-grader Naima Fischer said budget cuts made her feel the city was "giving up on me and my future" and asked officials to invest in neighborhood schools. A second-grader described missing a para-professional who had helped calm him and supported his learning.
Community groups urged using available reserves for urgent repairs and cited the city's rainy-day funds and capital-improvement allocations. Evangelene Kartahena, program director of Harford Decides, asked the council to restore or increase participatory-budgeting funds from $100,000 to $150,000 in the CIP so residents could propose and vote on neighborhood projects.
Speakers also referenced statewide drivers of funding pressure: the mayor and several witnesses said the state ECS funding formula has not kept pace with needs and that court settlements related to school choice have shifted per-pupil resources out of the district. Public commenters asked the council to press state legislators and the governor for targeted relief and to seek shared-cost solutions.
The council did not take votes at the hearing. Members said departmental hearings and a second public hearing on April 28 will inform later budget deliberations; the council is expected to consider amendments and pass a final budget in May.
