We keep hearing about budget cuts around EHHS, but has there really been a cut to the budget? And what does that even mean?

There has been gossip about a lack of funding, complaints about class cuts, and several teachers leaving the district. Multiple teachers who left the district claimed that their pay was too low; although teacher salaries increase each year based on the budget and their contract. Similarly, some former EHHS teachers mentioned that their paychecks are lower than newer, younger teachers. EHHS Principal Vincent DeNuzzo, EHHS Assistant Principal Anthony Russell, and EHPS Chief of Operations & Fiscal Oversight Richard Caponera all stated that the allegations of budget cuts are false.

During the creation of the budget, all principals and administrators review the money they spent in previous years to develop a new proposal of what money they will need to operate the district. To create the proposed budget, all EHPS principals and administrators meet with Mr. Richard Caponera, Chief of Operations & Fiscal Oversight, and Superintendent Adam Swinney to review an initial draft proposal. They then present the budget to the EHPS Board of Education.

The presentation contains information about the prior school year, including how much money was spent and left over. As they get into more detail, they talk more about the grants they had chosen to apply to, classes that need to be cut to save money, materials, staffing, salaries, insurance benefits, and transportation they will need for the upcoming school year.

The BOE then discusses, voted on, and proposes a final budget to the East Haven Town Council. The Town Council then determines EHPS funding.

The school also applies for several grants each year. The school receives the Perkins grant every year, while the other grant names were not shared. The Perkins grant is an annual grant and can only be used for specific material, like equipment, and it is not affiliated with staff salaries. After the meeting, all of the information, including contractual staff obligations,  is compiled and discussed to help determine the final budget. The budget that was requested for the 2025-2026 school year was a total of $57,458,737, which is an $8,164,466 increase from the previous school year.

The entire budget proposal takes about five months to complete—it starts during the first week of November and is presented to the Board of Finance in March. The Board of Finance and Town Council do not finalize their budget allocations until the end of April.

One main factor that influences the budget is which classes are available each year. Mr. DeNuzzo and Mr. Russell explained that the reason certain classes no longer run is based solely on student demand, meaning not enough students had signed up for that elective. This causes the school to not offer the class, in order to save money so that they can spend it on necessities that keep the school running. For example, they might use the money for materials for classes, building repairs, and more.

Mr. DeNuzzo and Mr. Russell also explained that the school has not faced staff reductions, as people may think, although a handful of positions do remain unfilled. In fact, during the 2024-2025 school year, the Board of Education budgeted for 302 teachers and in the 2025-2026 school year, they budgeted for only 285 teacher positions.

For more information, click HERE to read about past and current proposals and the current budget.