Students and Teachers Demand Fully Funded Schools

 

New Haven Public School teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians, art educators, union leaders, parents, and students turned out in force to Monday night’s Board of Education hearing to use their voices, and powerful moments of silence, to show opposition to the devastating teacher cuts being proposed for next school year.

Trump's sweeping elimination of social programs and massive cuts to the Department of Education are making their direct impact on New Haven.  The national cuts, and Connecticut Governor Lamont's resistance to releasing the state's "rainy day" funds into educational spending, are leaving New Haven with a $16.5 million deficit for its school budget in the 2025-2026 academic year.  

New Haven's Superintendent of Schools made it known this past April that 129 teaching and coaching positions are at risk of being eliminated in the fall of 2025.  This would include 29 art teachers, 25 literacy and math coaches, 25 school librarians, 19 paraprofessionals, 4 clerical staff, and 27 other teachers.  Many of these positions, including all 25 school librarians in the district, have already been proposed for elimination.  

One teacher, who has served New Haven for 31 years, explained that between New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport, these three districts serve 49 percent of all Black and Brown students in the state, and all three of these districts have proposed librarian and reading coach layoffs.  “It is a question of equity,” she said in her powerful testimony.  New Haven Federation of Teachers Executive Vice President Jenny Graves emphasized that "management has not faced cuts to their wages or positions, while our student-facing teachers are in this unimaginable situation."  She also explained that a number of buildings that are not in use could be officially closed to save costs and save teachers' jobs.  

The New Haven paraprofessionals union, AFSCME Local 3429, took a particularly moving series of actions  during the hearing.  Union members signed up to testify, and whenever one of the local’s members was called up to speak, their entire union delegation approached the podium and stood in silence for the full three minutes of allotted time, holding up signs that said: “We Support Every Child.”  Their action was repeated at least 8 times during the hearing.

High school senior, student member of New Haven's Board of Education, and organizing leader Juan Carlos Serana Musser was given a standing ovation for his leadership in the battle to protect funding for New Haven’s Schools.  Juan Carlos and other high school students have organized hundreds of their peers in the last four months to testify at the capitol (March 19th), turn out to union and May Day rallies (May 1st and May 3rd), face arrest in civil disobedience (May 21st), and participate in coordinated school walkouts (May 30th), demanding the funding that they deserve for their education and supporting their teachers. 

Other students testified on Monday night about the profound impact that their teachers have had on their lives, and how angry they feel that their teachers are being targeted by the budget cuts.  The students' efforts have gotten legislators' attention, and have demonstrated their mature solidarity with the labor movement.  

The bottom line?  As Trump and his billionaire friends continue to completely devastate our country's resources for every day working families, the people continue to fight back.  New Haven's Public Schools and community are standing strong and unified in the face of unprecedented attacks.