Millions in surplus going to rainy day fund
HARTFORD — Hartford schools have ended the past two fiscal years with several million dollars left in the bank, allowing the district this year to max out its rainy day fund with $5.6 million.
The reserve fund already holds the $2.9 million surplus that Hartford Public Schools experienced in the 2019 fiscal year, a glut that prompted the district for the first time to make use of a state law that allows municipalities to reserve unspent school funding for future educational expenses.
Lawmakers updated that statute in 2018 to bump up the maximum allowable reserves from 1% to 2% of a district’s budget, or about $5.6 million in Hartford.
Because the pandemic shut down schools and vastly reduced overhead costs last spring, the district ended the 2020 fiscal year in September with an even larger surplus of $3.9 million. While the coronavirus crisis has also added new expenses, the district is eligible for up to $17 million this year to pay for personal protective equipment, technology, extra staffing and other coronavirus-related needs.
Of the regular budget surplus, about 70% or $2.7 million can be added to the school district’s non-lapsing reserve fund with the city council’s approval.
Hartford schools could then draw from the fund in future years — again with city council approval — to cover any higher-than-expected educational costs.
Those unforeseen expenses could range from coronavirus-related spending to day-to-day building maintenance to handling an influx of new students, like Hartford schools experienced in 2018 when they enrolled hundreds of Puerto Rican students displaced by Hurricane Maria.
The rainy day fund could also be used to reduce the budgetary gaps that Hartford schools grapple with each year. The district is projecting it will have to address a deficit of $17-20 million in its budget for the next fiscal year, according to a November report from the board of education’s finance and audit committee.
After filling its reserve coffers, the district will still have a $1.15 million surplus from 2019-2020. That money will return to the city’s general fund.
Two city council committees met in a special joint meeting Tuesday to discuss the school district’s request to max out its reserve fund.
The r esolution is supported by Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, and Councilman John Gale, whorepresents the minority Hartford Party, moved to send the request to the full body with a recommendation for its approval.
However, his motion failed and the committees instead voted unanimously to send the item back with no recommendation. The council meets next on Dec. 14. The school district has also begun planning its budget for the 2021 fiscal year, factoring in the uncertainty of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Hartford schools are putting together three proposals for different scenarios related to the pandemic. In the first, schools would see the same level of funding as this year, about $284 million. But the district is also planning for the possibility that state, federal and grant funding could decline by an estimated $15 million, or 3.5%, or that the district could stay in a hybrid model of online and in-person classes or go fully virtual but not receive any additional funding for coronavirus relief.
The district aims to hold community meetings next week, develop the different budget scenarios by Dec. 23 and present them to the board of education in early January. The board is expected to hold a public hearing in February and adopt the budget by the end of that month.