DERBY – Mayor Rich Dziekan was willing to allocate more money for education in his budget but wanted to tie funding to academic performance, according to statements made at the Tuesday, April 5 meeting of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
In addition, a $1 million increase in medical insurance costs for the school district precluded additional funding from the city because the mayor had capped all department increases to no more than 2.5 percent.
“First of all, let me just say the mayor was going to commit to a significant increase in funding for the board of ed in line with his 2.5 cap provided that there was a realignment of the educational spending, the establishment of measurable goals related to student performance and the necessary program shift to attain those goals,” Walt Mayhew told members of the tax board.
In an interview Wednesday, Jim Gildea, chairman of the Derby Board of Education, said the administration’s reasoning does not make sense.
“The fact of the matter is we have (received) zero percent three of the last four years, which certainly isn’t an appropriation from an administration that supports education,” Gildea said. “It’s also important to point out that during the four years of the previous administration, the Anita Dugatto administration,, this Derby Board of Education got $2.1 million. People can say whatever they want, but that is the fact. The facts speak very loudly that this administration has not been one to support education.”
Click play to listen to the latest episode of “Navel Gazing: The Valley Indy Podcast.” The episode features a 12-minute clip featuring Mayhew’s remarks on education funding, followed by a 10-minute interview from Gildea reacting to Mayhew’s comments.
BACKGROUND
The Derby Board of Education is asking the city for a 4.8 percent funding increase to run the schools next year. The funding request is $19,990,511. That’s a budget-to-budget increase of $913,805.
Mayor Rich Dziekan’s budget proposes an increase of $60,583 for education.
In Derby, the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation has the final say on annual budgets and the mill rate. Its members have been reviewing requests from departments every Tuesday.
The tax board has until the end of the month to vote to accept a Derby budget, which includes a mill rate; bottom-line dollar amount for the school district, and; a dollar amount for expenditures and revenue.
Click here to read a previous Valley Indy story on the proposed school budget.
The Administration’s Philosophy On Education Spending
Mayhew appeared on behalf of the mayor at the Tuesday, April 5 tax board meeting. He was there to answer 17 pre-written questions from tax board members about the mayor’s proposed budget.
One of the questions was about education funding, asking why the mayor’s proposed funding allocation was so much less than what the Board of Education asked for.
Mayhew said “a number of factors played into” the mayor’s allocation, noting Dziekan had been willing to “commit to a significant increase” in line with the mayor’s request that no departments ask for more than a 2.5 percent increase.
Mayhew said the mayor hoped to have a conversation with the school district about setting up goals for improving test scores in the district. The process would have somehow been tied to city education funding.
“What got in the way of that was the increase in the medical insurance,” Mayhew said. “The medical insurance for the board of education, which is a legitimate board of education cost, for some reason, is budgeted outside the board of education budget. Now, there may be good reasons for that, and I could give you some, but it is a valid board of education expense. That expense, this year, just for the board of ed, increased by almost a million dollars.”
Mayhew said the medical insurance costs exceeded the 2.5 spending cap the mayor put in place.
In 2011, Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s administration changed the city’s insurance policy.
The move transferred about $3 million in school district healthcare costs to the city side of the budget.
Officials in 2011 said the move would save the city $1 million.
Mayhew pointed out that Derby Public Schools is an alliance district, which puts it among the top under-performing school districts in the state. The city itself ranks no. six on the 2021 list of economically distressed municipalities.
Mayhew said Derby spends more per pupil than surrounding towns.
“So the amount of taxpayer dollars being spent on education in the City of Derby does not appear to be the problem. Rather it is how the money is being spent to accomplish the objectives,” Mayhew said.
Click the play button at the top of this article to hear Mayhew’s remarks.
Mayhew said the approximate $60,000 spending increase offered in the mayor’s budget was meant to be an “olive branch” to the school district, saying “we want to work on improving the education, and we want to work on making sure the funding that we are spending is producing the results.”
“Unfortunately, it appears the board of education thinks that $60,000 of additional taxpayer money is a slap in the face. They obviously don’t appreciate it,” Mayhew said.
He pointed out the tax board sets the budget and that the board does not have to “a small group of pro-education people.”
“You are playing to the entire City of Derby and every single taxpayer,” Mayhew said. “And if you choose, you can use that $60,583 anyway you choose fit.”
The mayor’s chief of staff said Mayor Dziekan “started out trying to do on behalf of the board of education more than had been done by any other administration in recent memory.”
Reaction
Gildea, the Derby school board chairman who ran on Mayor Dziekan’s under ticket, said he’s never had a discussion with the administration about tying school funding to test scores.
He referred to the Dziekan administration funding plan as a “fascinating strategy.”
“Hey, listen. We’re not going to give you any resources. We’re not going to give you any money. We’re going to flatline you . . . but, listen, why don’t you turn the whole system around and why don’t you get better test scores?” Gildea said.
Press play on the podcast above to hear Gildea’s complete remarks.
Gildea said the lack of funding for the school district prevents the district from successfully implementing programs that would help students.
“The message we got last night was . . . take the $60,000 and be happy or maybe the tax board should take it back,” Gildea said. “The board of education is never going to abdicate their role as advocates for the children. We’re not going to get bullied into being happy with a pittance of money. And, quite frankly, the mayor doesn’t have the political capital to be making those types of threats.”
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