Please Follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Gettr, Truth Social, Twitter, YouTube
By Dr. Rebecca Hamman
Budgets tell a story. Stamford Public Schools (SPS) is no exception. Great storytellers, in this case—SPS cabinet leaders, should be able to tell how each system budget within the district has a return on its investment. This has not happened in the SPS for at least the past six years. Why?
Perhaps former budgets were not about improving learning, instead they were about weaving politics into decision-making and graduating as many students as possible? Or perhaps priorities were not about system improvement and accountability? Whatever the reason, symptoms like low morale, lack of results and family/teacher flight are happening consistently. Most alarming, when school programs and staffing are affected repeatedly (see BOE Budget Presentation 2026-27), the newly elected BOE members are realizing that this pattern has gone on far too long. Read on…each level of the budget story is connected.
Federal Education Budget
Since the 1980’s (President Carter’s term), states have given more local control to the federal level in education. Knowing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title Grant) has been flat recently and our Connecticut schools are in need—e.g., SPS projected $11M + Cost-of-Living-Adjustment $11.3M = $329,702 variance required, how do we take care of our kids within our own state or city? Raising taxes is an old-fashioned way of handling our state’s budget and debt diet. Instead, we need to consider phasing out state income taxes and re-engineering the cost structure of Connecticut’s government.
State Education Budget
District budgets are directly affected by the state budget. For the last 15 years, most Connecticut legislators have voted for short-term fixes instead of making strategic investments. Our General Assembly needs to increase the Education Cost Sharing Foundation/ECS to rise with inflation—since 2013 it has been held at $11,525 per student (SPS has a variance of $1.25M). In conjunction, we need to fully fund the special education Excess Cost Reimbursement Grant (SPS needs $1.25M from state). We can certainly avoid crisis spending by being forward-thinking.
Knowing our state’s fiscal system is in decline (14% of the public sector consumes approximately a quarter of the total wage and benefit footprint that 86% of the private sector funds through taxation), wealth exodus, municipal strain and unfunded mandates do not need to happen. A newly elected governor could use line-item veto power to force negotiations with the legislative supermajority; public referendums could pressure voters to support issues, not politics (e.g., energy reform, housing mandates, etc.); labor re-negotiations could be leveraged at the contract level and voluntary buyouts could reduce long-term government costs. It’s time to change our mindsets—other states do it—why can’t Connecticut?
Stamford Education Budget
District school leaders think that eliminating learning programs and staff will help offset increases in wages and benefits, health insurance premiums, and special education out-of-district tuition. Again, little introspection has been made by our top paid educators. The $8-9M spent on cabinet/central office positions and special education (system accountability roles), as well as $1B appropriated for three new schools is blaringly loud…the return on investment continues to be remiss.
Approximately 50% of Stamford’s city budget belongs to the school district. Perhaps this is why the DCC/Democratic City Committee—which owns all city boards (BOE/6 of 9 members, Board of Reps/40 of 40 members, and Board of Finance/4 of 6 members) has created a zone of secrecy around the city budget? Transparency is becoming highly suspicious when money is more important than listening, working together and supporting our city’s children and learning. No wonder long-term residents and families are fleeing SPS—almost 900 students last year. Could this mean property values will take a dive, too?
SPS Teaching & Learning Systems
When the new superintendent is hired in July, the priority should be improving learning via district systems. Systems work well when budgets are aligned with higher standards. SPS needs to expect excellence, nothing less. Here are a few systems to start with:
Budget lines and actual data tell real stories. The heart of systemic leadership is instructional improvement. Unfortunately, when instruction is bogged down by legislative short-term fixes, sloppy district policies and unaccountable cabinet/central office leaders, all children suffer. It’s time to change our mindset about the SPS budget.
Next Steps to Victory
Although 10,000 individuals (approximately 5,000 grade 9-12 students, 4,500 parents and 500 high school teachers) were overjoyed when the interim 8-Block A/B schedule was re-instituted on January 7th, this army still has one more battle to fight. The real victory will be decided when the 2026-2027 superintendent’s budget is revised and voted on February 24th at 7pm. Please attend and speak out—this new BOE truly cares about our students, not politics.
Dr. Rebecca Hamman currently serves as a member of the Stamford Board of Education. She is a career educator (teacher and administrator) and has worked 11 years elementary and 15 years secondary. Her comments are her own, and do not represent the official views of the Board of Education or its committees.
Stay updated with the latest in the Constitution State with The CT Centinal
