Budget Finally Approved, Teacher Layoffs Loom In Stratford

STRATFORD, CT — At about halfway through the 2017-18 fiscal year, the town of Stratford finally has an approved budget and more than 40 teachers and staff still face possible layoffs following a special Town Council meeting Monday night.

The Stratford Star reports the council approved a $217.51 million budget with a property tax rate of 39.97 mills (up from last year’s rate of 38.99) along with a 39.00 car tax mill rate.

Hundreds of people attended Monday night’s meeting with the majority holding signs pleading for more funding for the school district in the wake of Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson’s recent announcement that about 40 teachers and staff would be laid off in January, according to the Star.

FOX 61 reports that the council voted to absorb $2.1 million of the state’s $2.8 million ECF funding cut, leaving the Board of Education to make up $700,000 worth of funding. Robinson previously said that the planned teacher and staff layoffs were necessary after the Stratford Education Association rejected a plan to take two furlough days as a way of saving the schools $700,000, according to the Star.

The school board is expected to announce the layoffs at a meeting on Jan. 22 but the teacher’s union is hoping to meet with the board before then in attempt to save jobs and find a way to meet the cuts, according to FOX 61.

Read more at FOX 61 here and the Stratford Star here.

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