Roughly 180 of New Haven’s 1,900 teachers are absent from classrooms any given school day — a number that has been on a slight incline over the past three years and that is now helping shape next year’s budget. At the most recent online meeting of the Board of Education’s Finance Operat ions Committee, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Amilcar Hernandez announced plans to add $1 million to the substitute-teacher line item for next fiscal year’s budget. The proposed increase comes as a result of teacher absences remaining steady at 175 to 180 per day over the past two years and up from an average of 167 daily absences during the 2023–24 school year, NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent. That means that roughly 9 percent of city teachers are absent on a daily basis. The substitute-teachers line item bump would bring the district’s budget for subs from $1,130,000 to $2,130,000. Hernandez noted during the Finance Operations (FO) meeting that the district is currently on track to spend $1.7 million over-budget on subs this fiscal year. NHPS employed an estimated 120 substitute teachers last school year, according to reports from the New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) last July. The subs’ collective bargaining contract — which alders approved in July 2025, and which covers the period from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2027 — includes annual 3 percent raises for substitute teachers. Harmon said that raise “is likely to account for a chunk of the increase in expenditures” for the bump described by Hernandez. “As with other components of the budget, costs grow over time,” Harmon added, “but we are slow to adjust the budget for those increases due to our overall financial constraints.” Teachers union President Leslie Blatteau declined to comment for this story. Board of Education member Andrea Downer spoke up during the most recent FO Committee meeting about the proposed $1 million increase for subs. “What is driving that?” she asked. “There has been an increase of absences by our teachers throughout the district,” Hernandez responded, “which has triggered more usage of substitute teachers throughout the district.” Hernandez said the district is currently having discussions “about how to reduce the substitute-teaching expense” while also recognizing that “this addition of $1 million is in preparation of the reality that we’re living.” Given all these teacher absences, Downer asked, is the district meeting “the guideline to have a certified teacher in the classroom, the hours that we’re supposed to meet for teaching our children?” Supt. Madeline Negrón answered that the district is meeting its obligation to its students “because we’re not going to leave the classroom open and that’s why we have to continue to pull in those substitute teachers to support the work in the schools.” She continued by explaining that when teachers are out, schools do their best to make sure classrooms receive coverage. “Sometimes it means having to hire a substitute teacher to come in to cover the classroom or be assigned to the school,” she said. Negrón concluded by saying, “We have seen a rise in terms of absences. Not just our teachers but as it relates to our staff.” Reached for comment Saturday, Hillhouse High School Principal Antoine Billy told the Independent that at the city’s second largest high school, double-digit daily teacher absences are “very rare.” The school has implemented a clear system to manage teacher absences using the Aesop absence management system, he said.  “We require all absences to be entered by 5:00 a.m. daily. Additionally, an assistant principal rotates quarterly with responsibility for organizing coverage and communicating assignments to staff by 7:00 a.m. each morning,” he said. “This structure allows us to start the day with clarity and minimal disruption.” Billy said that educators often communicate about their absences in advance. “We have worked hard to foster a culture that recognizes that life happens, while also prioritizing instructional time.” As a result, at Hillhouse, many teachers now “plan absences after student-facing instructional periods whenever possible.” His team continues to work to identify absence patterns among a small number of staff, Billy said, while noting that still “they are far fewer than in the past and significantly less impactful.” When asked about how absences and increasing demand for substitutes impacts the building’s daily operations, Billy said since Hillhouse has filled all vacancies, improved daily staff attendance, and developed a “strong bench of substitutes familiar with our building,” students are able to know what to expect and substitutes are able to “step directly into established systems without significant disruption.” The post Subs Budget Climbs Alongside Teacher Absences appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less