Kelly Kong, Contributing Photographer

More than 40 teachers and union leaders packed a Monday Board of Education meeting ahead of a contract negotiation process, toting homemade posters calling for wage increases.

The current contract for New Haven Public Schools teachers took effect in July 2023 and included a 5 percent pay raise and stronger workplace protections. The union is set to begin negotiations with NHPS next Tuesday for the renewed contract, which is expected to go into effect in July and last for three years.

Leslie Blatteau ’97 GRD ’07, the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, told the News that she sees the bargaining process as an opportunity for the union to collaborate with the board and address longstanding issues in New Haven schools.

“We want to come to the board to let them know that teachers in New Haven want to work in New Haven,” Blatteau said. “We love New Haven, and there are concerns and obstacles to us being able to do the job that we want to do.”

The union’s top priority for the upcoming contract negotiations is to increase teacher salaries and benefits.

“Unfortunately, many of us responsible and dedicated educators are struggling,” Carmen Cordova-Rolon, a teacher at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy for Global Awareness, told the board. “Low salaries force many of us to take on second jobs, a practice that drains our energy and time, leaving less for lesson planning and professional development.”

Dario Sulzman, an English teacher at Wilbur Cross High School, said many teachers are bringing home less money this year due to increased health insurance premiums offsetting their expected pay raise.

“I’m on the most affordable plan with a high deductible, and even mine jumped from 40 or 50 per pay period to 80 to 90 bucks,” he said.

NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the News that the school district wants to provide teachers with the best possible compensation, both because teachers deserve it, and because NHPS wants to disincentivize teachers from moving to higher-paying districts.

To substantially increase teacher compensation, however, Harmon said that NHPS needs increased state funding.

“We’ve worked very closely with our delegation in Hartford,” Harmon said. “But we haven’t yet been able to get the funding that we need to do everything that our teachers are calling for.”

Teachers also raised concerns about understaffing and overenrollment in schools.

Sulzman said Wilbur Cross faces massive classroom vacancy issues. He said he currently teaches a class of 25 students, but he feels that he can only “really effectively” teach a class of 15.

In her speech to the board, Blatteau said that understaffing and inadequate resources at NHPS has required teachers to put in several hours of work outside of their contractual work day. As a result, teachers face increased burnout and depletion, she added.

“Our members rank job stress higher than job satisfaction,” she said. “It does not have to be this way.”

According to Harmon, uncertainty in state and federal Title I funding for schools with disadvantaged students has made it difficult for the district to find realistic changes for teachers in the upcoming contract negotiation process.

“There is legislation in the federal government that would reduce Title I funding substantially,” Harmon said, alluding to a 27 percent reduction in Title I funds proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month. “It’s likely that we’re going to be seeing some federal funding cuts.”

Several teachers also spoke about facility and maintenance issues at their workplaces.

Ben Scudder, who teaches at High School in the Community, said that he has repeatedly heard about black mold, leaky roofs and broken bathroom locks among New Haven schools. Right now, his school’s heating, ventilation and cooling system are broken, he said.

“My classroom has been in the 80s multiple days in the past few weeks,” he said. “It’s not like this is a one day issue or one month issue. There’s been years and years and years of neglect of our public schools.”

The school district is mitigating a $3.8 million budget deficit and does not have a finalized line item budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

During the meeting, Scudder went before the board with a poster that read, “Show us the money in an itemized budget.” Having learned from administrators about several repercussions of NHPS’s budget crises, from librarian layoffs to minimized salary increases, Scudder demanded transparency in NHPS’s budget allocation.

“I understand federal cuts are coming,” he told the board. “I understand the state is not fishing enough money, absolutely. But I don’t understand why as a citizen, I can’t know where every dollar that I spend in taxes goes.”

Dr. Madeline Negrón, superintendent of NHPS, told the News that she is working with NHPS’s new chief financial officer to put out an itemized budget document.

“We want to have full transparency, and that is a goal that we’re working towards now,” she said.

New Haven has 44 public schools.

Correction, Sept. 23: A previous version of this article misstated the name of a teacher who attended the Board of Education meeting. He is Ben Scudder, not Scott.