NORWALK – An on-again, off-again $8 million proposal from Mayor Harry Rilling and State Sen. Bob Duff to shrink a gaping $13.2 million hole in the school budget – and restore deep staff and program cuts – appears to be back on.
The offer became a dispute because Rilling, the city leader, and Duff, the state Senate’s powerful Democratic majority leader, attached conditions to the funding – $3 million from the city and $3 million from the state, plus $2 million in cuts that Duff and Rilling identified.
At first Norwalk Board of Education Chair Diana Carpio and Superintendent Alexandra Estrella called foul. Carpio said in a statement that a funding offer must be “consistent with the separate roles and responsibilities of the Board of Education and the city under statute.”
Estrella issued a statement saying “decisions related to budget allocations and educational programming lie squarely within the statutory authority” of boards of education, which are agents of the state, independent of municipalities. “Connecticut courts have affirmed that municipalities may not condition education funding on directives that encroach upon this legally established autonomy,” Estrella wrote.
Still, on Friday the school district issued a statement saying that Estrella’s administration will present a 2025-26 budget to the Board of Education that meets the conditions set by Duff and Rilling – restoring elementary school music positions; supporting the employee health insurance account; and disbursing money to principals to reinstate positions based on each school’s needs.
Rilling on Friday issued a statement saying the Norwalk Board of Education is about to accept the offer he and Duff presented.
The communications director for Rilling’s office, Michelle Woods Matthews, said Friday that a school board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
So it appears that Norwalk has averted a school budget crisis that could have eliminated 130 positions, cut or reduced programs, and boosted class sizes.
Is it OK to attach strings?
But Carpio and Estrella raised a sticky question about the authority of city and state officials to dictate school spending and programming measures by tying them to funding.
Duff and Rilling set out their conditions in a June 10 letter to Estrella. The conditions include:
- Restoring arts and music positions along with those agreed upon with teacher, administrator and paraeducator unions;
- Having school board members agree to not take up Estrella’s contract extension until after the 2026-27 budget is settled.
- Requiring that the school board make $2 million in cuts Duff and Rilling approved, including four School Quality Review positions, and that the board reallocate money for “student-facing” positions or to cover the employee health insurance shortfall.
- Giving Norwalk’s chief financial officer, Jared Schmitt, full access to school district financials.
- Requiring that the district provide a line-item budget next year for the public and city officials to review.
Duff did not respond to messages asking whether he has the authority to impose conditions on funding. He has said in statements that he secured an additional $10 million in municipal aid for Norwalk just before the state legislature finalized its budget the first week in June, and offered $3 million of it to help close the school budget shortfall.
In his statement, Rilling, who said the $3 million he offered the school district would come from the current city budget, did not address the question about setting conditions for the funding.
The spokeswoman for the school board and Estrella’s office did not respond to a question about whether the conditions are proper.
Spokespersons for the Connecticut Department of Education did not respond.
The Norwalk city attorney said his office is not in a position to comment because it represents both parties, the school board and the mayor.
Expert: Demands can’t be enforced
Experts on school budgets and financing, and attorneys practicing education law in Connecticut, did not want to publicly weigh in on the fray.
They said a Board of Education is, indeed, an entity of the state. Municipalities set the total amount of the school budget each year, but they can’t dictate how the money is spent. That responsibility lies with the board and its employee, the superintendent, experts and attorneys said.
Some of the conditions Duff and Rilling set are likely proper, such as allowing Norwalk’s chief financial officer access to school finance information, experts said. It’s a way to establish collaboration between the city and the school board, they said.
Things get murky when Duff and Rilling say the money must fund certain positions and programs, and when they dictate cuts, experts said. That does not align with the spirit of the law and the independence of boards of education, they said.
Attorneys explained that Connecticut has a Minimum Budget Requirement, a mandate that a municipality annually fund its schools at a level that at least matches that of the previous year.
A municipality may grant a supplemental appropriation – additional funding beyond the school board’s initial budget, the attorneys said. The municipality may impose conditions, but once the Board of Education gets the money, it may do what it chooses with it. The conditions are, in effect, unenforceable, they said.
Experts said school boards are obligated to balance their budgets, and there’s an implication that if a board needs a supplemental appropriation, it hasn’t been a prudent fiscal manager.
Big ask, big cut, big protest
The issue in Norwalk began at the start of the year, when Estrella presented a school budget of nearly $256 million for fiscal 2025-26. It was a 9.7 percent increase over this year.
Estrella wrote on the website that she asked for the large increase because of the “rising costs for special education services and out-of-district tuition, employee compensation and benefits, transportation and utilities, and the need to return key program funding to the local budget.” Expiring COVID-19 relief funding was another factor, Estrella said.
The website states that the Board of Education approved her spending plan on Jan. 14.
On Feb. 10, Rilling – citing a desire to limit tax hikes – recommended that the district get a far smaller increase, 4 percent, or $13.2 million less than what the school board approved, the website states.
Estrella said that would eliminate more than 60 teacher positions, reduce music and physical education programs, and cut the number of school counselors, social workers, paraeducators, secretaries and administrators. About 130 positions would be eliminated altogether, and class sizes would get bigger, she said.
On June 3, hundreds of Norwalk parents showed up at a Board of Education meeting to protest the cuts. The public speaking portion of the meeting went on for more than four hours, and the board vote on the budget was postponed until June 10.
But, on that day, Carpio, the board chair, canceled the meeting. Carpio issued a statement saying that, a few hours before the meeting was to begin, Estrella received the proposal for additional funding from Duff and Rilling. The board needed time to consider the proposal, Carpio wrote, and members hoped to finalize the budget at a meeting rescheduled for Tuesday, June 17.
In her statement issued Friday, Estrella said principals are reviewing their budgets to determine which positions should be reinstated, and will “consult with their parent leadership groups to ensure that decisions reflect the priorities and needs of their school communities.”
As Duff and Rilling asked, district officials identified $2 million “in further budget reductions through the elimination of additional Central Office positions, scaling back professional development, cutting utility-related expenditures and other non-student-facing programs,” Estrella wrote. Changes will align with union contracts, she said. Some staff members may be reassigned within their school and some will move to a different school, she said.
According to the district’s website, Tuesday’s meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the concert hall at Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Ave., and on Zoom.
To view it on ZOOM, visit https://zoom.us/j/97311172971. The webinar ID is 973 1117 2971. To watch the live stream on YouTube, visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp9LWomxX4LEEyBL2pTOqBw.