Politics & Government
The $100 Million School Budget
Resident George Levinson questions the cost of education in Hamden, which is more than it may appear.
To the Editor:
Happy 100th “Anniversary” Hamden!
Find out what's happening in Hamdenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Sorry, it’s not exactly an anniversary and it surely is not happy. Hamden has now passed the $100 million spending level on the schools!
But the new school budget is “only” $80.3 million, you say? Not quite. You see, the Board of Education gets its health care and other benefits from the town essentially free, without any direct budget.
Find out what's happening in Hamdenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The board’s share of the whopping $33 million health care plan alone is over $20 million. That brings the total over $100 million, not even counting other pooled benefits.
By the way, the board intends to create 12 new positions, four teachers and eight lunch aides (previously part time) with their new bigger budget. Benefits for those people will add about another quarter million in hidden cost. It’s like the board has a right to pick the town’s pocket!
So what do we get for that princely sum? We provide mediocre education for 5,800 students, less than 10 percent of the population.
The math is simple: 100 million divided by 5800 is $17,240 per student. That’s one of the highest numbers in the state. How come our district is ranked 130th of the 165 districts in the state?
This taxpayer just doesn’t understand.
George Levinson
