State lawmakers and Hartford officials announced Thursday that $10.5 million in additional funding will be made available for the city’s schools.
The money is intended to prevent some of the recently-approved job cuts in the school system.
Almost half of the money will come from the state government. Most of the rest will come from a city of Hartford account that helps pay for health insurance for retired city employees. The city will also assume Board of Education expenses related to crossing guards.
House Speaker Matt Ritter spoke Thursday about the assistance.
“Is it perfect? I don't know. I don't run the city. I don't know exactly what the city and the Board of Education have to do going forward,” Ritter said. “But I know that when the delegation was asked to deliver – we delivered.”
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said the $10.5 million is enough to avoid some job cuts in the school system.
“We've got an agreement to restore $10.5 million back into our schools, to make sure that we can keep teachers where they are, to make sure that we can keep our schools strong and striving, and to work together for a long-term plan for our schools,” Arulampalam said.
Hartford education officials recently approved almost 400 layoffs as part of their budget.
They said the expiration of federal pandemic assistance funds left them short on money. They also said additional resources are needed to help students after the pandemic, and to keep up with inflation.
Arunan Arulampalam's father-in-law is Gregory B. Butler, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of Connecticut Public.
