superintendent's Message:
Dr. Steven Adamowski
January 3, 2020
I am pleased to submit a requested budget for the 2020-21 school year in support of our 21 Norwalk Public Schools. As with budgets of the previous four years, the FY 2020-21 Budget is designed to fund the priority implementation steps of the Strategic Operating Plan.
Significantly, it closes most of the historic funding gap between Norwalk Public Schools and the school district most similar to Norwalk. Stamford out-spends Norwalk on a per pupil basis by approximately $1,245 per student. While our District has made remarkable strides in student achievement on a long-term, sustained basis, Norwalk Public Schools can only maintain the current level of achievement in the face of increasing numbers of high needs students if we are funded at an equitable level, comparable to other Fairfield County districts. While the recommended Budget for 2020-21 only brings Norwalk up to Stamford’s 2018-19 per pupil expenditure, this will go a long way toward closing the education funding gap under which Norwalk students and teachers have labored.
The Strategic Operating Plan is an ambitious plan designed to raise the bar and close the gaps. The recommended budget funds a final set of the Plan’s priority implementation steps for FY 2020-21. The budget goals proposed for the 2020-21 school year include the following nine priorities in order of magnitude:
1. Fund salary and benefits increases relative to new collective bargaining agreements, effective July 1, 2020,
2. Fund an enrollment growth appropriation to schools necessary to accommodate growing student enrollment,
3. Fund the expansion and enhancement of the District’s programs for English Language Learners (ELL) in response to the large influx of new immigrant students,
4. Expand the District’s Choice Programs by allocating funds for District’s growing number of students who participate in one of the District’s Choice programs, including the Kendall Above the Bar school redesign and year-round schedule,
5. Fund the new student transportation contract, incorporating the move to a healthier high school start time, transportation expenses for Jefferson students temporarily relocated to the Ponus campus, “clean” student transportation through propane buses; and a “smart bus” initiative,
6. Implement Phase II recommendations of the Counseling Services Study including the implementation of Student Success Plans and support for Social Emotional Learning and Executive Functioning,
7. Support the partnership with the Carver Center to deliver high-quality before and after school programs at all District schools,
8. Implement an American Sign Language program as an additional District language option for interested students, and
9. Complete expansion of the District’s Summer School Program to the seventh grade (rising Grade 8 students).