The math behind Greenwich school cuts doesn't add up

Leading up to the Greenwich Board of Education (BOE) meeting (video here) on Thursday, December 18, the clamor to halt any school staffing cuts reached a fever pitch. For days, letters to the editor poured in from the teacher's union and staff. During the first hour of the school board meeting every speaker - from teachers and students to PTA members - seemed to be singing from the same playbook: "Delay, don't cut."

But a look at the actual ledger suggests a more complex story.

Budget growth well above inflation. The school operating budget as proposed is not actually being cut. As Superintendent Jones admitted, the budget is slated to increase by +4.4% (rather than +3.1% figure cited when using a one-time add-back of $2.5 million). For context, that increase is significantly higher than the current inflation rate of +2.7%.

Furthermore, the BOE operating budget of $207 million does not tell the whole story. It excludes $43 million in school health insurance costs carried by the Town-side of the budget, which are spiking by a whopping 13% this year. While Superintendent Jones cites "huge contractual increases" in union wages as a primary hurdle, the responsibility for balancing these mandates with fiscal reality rests with her. So before blaming the BOE/BET number crunchers, remember, in managing resource priorities, the buck stops with Superintendent Jones. That is her job.

The elephant in the room: staffing vs. declining enrollment. The real source of the outcry is the proposed reduction of 11.5 full-time staff positions. However, this must be viewed alongside the steady exit of students from the district. Enrollment has dropped from 9,113 in 2018, to 8,319 in 2025-26, with 8,270 projected for the following year. Superintendent Jones herself emphasized that a drop of 843 students is a "significant amount."

If the student body is shrinking this rapidly, staffing levels must eventually align with that reality. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Central Middle School, which is slated to lose four positions. Even with these cuts, the average class size in 6th and 7th grade has dwindled to only 12 students, a number Jones called "really low." Parents are being surveyed about the possibility of open enrollment. With total enrollment at Central at only 422 students, one has to wonder why the new school currently under construction is being built to house 660 students.

Between the Lines: Greenwich already spends more per student than almost any other district in Connecticut. For those looking up and crying "the sky is falling," the reality is simpler: what you are seeing is more manna from taxpayers, even as the student body shrinks.

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