Submitted by Doug Fenton
It is incumbent on the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) to fully understand the budget drivers when making decisions. This will ensure the Town’s supports it residents and children, responsibly maintains affordable taxes, plans for the future, and maintains the attractiveness of Greenwich for potential homebuyers.
Sadly, several of the Republican BET candidates running for re-election have voting records and communications that display a fundamental lack of understanding of the budget drivers, as well as consistent antagonism towards our Town departments, Town Boards, Schools, and Greenwich residents.
Here’s the full story of Greenwich Public Schools and its budget, rather than ones floating around the ether of half-truths, omissions, and without context.
Summary:
Inflation: Over the past decade, Greenwich’s school spending has grown below inflation and at a slower pace than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport, despite Greenwich’s enrollment trend being comparable or higher than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport.
Enrollment: Modest year-to-year changes in enrollment have no material impact on the cost to deliver educational services.
Buses: GPS’s previous bus provider (First Student) tried to abruptly halt service last December, demanding significantly “increased financial terms.” First Student then informed GPS they would opt out of its contract at the end of the 2024-25 school year. While below the cost offered by First Student, the new contract with DATTCO is materially above GPS’s previously budgeted ‘cost per bus’ hence higher expenses despite the start time change.
GPS already runs lean: Last year, Greenwich Schools already ran leaner staffing compared to Darien, New Canaan, and Westport. Repeated budget cuts below the ‘level cost of providing services’ will strain our school district even more.
Details:
Greenwich Schools’ budget has grown below inflation: Over the past decade…
• US inflation is up ~36%, or ~3.2% per year (Source: St. Louis Fed).
• Greenwich’s education spending is up ~31% (2.7% CAGR), less than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport (Source: CT DOE).
o Even this growth rate is likely overstated, as it ignores (1) changes in CT laws that increased outplacement expenses for very high needs students and (2) impacts from BET-driven budget changes shifting capital costs to BOE operating costs.
• Over the past decade, PK-12 enrollment is down ~5% (0.5% per year and less than most CT towns), and GPS has found efficiencies (i.e. reducing the total number of K-5 classrooms from 210 –> 194).
• Thus, Greenwich’s inflation-adjusted spend per student has been roughly flat, despite the significant inflationary pressure of growing Special Education prevalence and identification. This has been enabled partly by GPS running significantly leaner staffing than peer districts (see below), which creates other issues.
Over the past decade, Greenwich’s school budget has grown at a slower pace than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport, despite Greenwich’s enrollment trend being comparable or higher than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport.
Modest Year-to-Year enrollment changes do not impact the cost to deliver educational services:
• Actual enrollment varies from the forecast every year, though the errors are both (1) small (typically less than +/-2%) and (2) display both positive and negative surprises.
• Plus or minus 100 students has no material impact on the cost to deliver educational services.
• Despite GPS having 190 more students than forecast in 2023-2024, 3 BET candidates (2 Republicans, 1 Independent Party) supported cutting the 2024-25 school budget.
Claims that the school budget can or should be materially changed in September when the student population is plus/minus 1-2% vs. forecast reflect a profound misunderstanding of how educational services are planned and delivered. Greenwich should be able to expect better from experienced members of the BET.
On Buses and the Surplus: Facts matter and are in the public domain.
Bus Contract Costs:
• Transportation expenses equal (1) the number of buses required multiplied by (2) the ‘cost per bus.’
• Last Fall, First Student (our previous bus provider) threatened to stop service mid-year unless Greenwich provided “greatly increased financial terms.” Greenwich’s legal department got involved, and “after complex” negotiations over the demand for increased pricing, First Student noticed the district that they would now cease operations on June 30 [2025]” (Source)
• After the BET Republicans’ $4mm budget cut in April, the BOE’s discussions and decision around start time changes considered (1) how many fewer buses would be needed multiplied by (2) the previously budgeted ‘cost per bus.’ Changing start times reduced the number of buses required, and thus the budgeted expense decreased by ~$2mm.
• Later, Greenwich came to terms with bus provider DATTCO for 2025-26 and beyond. While below the cost offered by First Student, it was materially above GPS’s prior budget on a ‘cost per bus’ basis. Therefore, GPS would need additional funding to fully pay for its 2025-26 bus contract.
Surplus:
• Almost all Town departments typically have a small surplus – this is expected, prudent, and accounted for when our tax rate is set.
• Historically, the BOE ran a small surplus of ~1.2% during the 2010s. This stopped in 2020 when the Republicans on the BET used their tie-breaking vote to cut the school budget by $3mm (to 0% Y/Y growth).
• Last year, for the first time since COVID, GPS had a ~1.4% surplus, reflecting a combination of many small items (better performance on outplacements, staff turnover, unfilled positions, etc), similar to most other Town departments.
• Given a known incremental cost for busing and the recent arbitrary behavior of the BET, it was rational that the BOE (with a bipartisan 6-0 vote) kept the funds to pay for the higher-than-budgeted bus contract costs rather than returning those funds just to immediately turn around and request an interim appropriation from the BET.
There is no grand conspiracy about buses and start times. All of this is in the public domain. We should expect candidates for the BET (let alone existing BET members) to do the work to actually understand the budget drivers.
Greenwich Schools already run lean: Last year, Greenwich Public Schools had…
• Fewer total staff per student than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport.
• Fewer administration staff per student than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport.
• Fewer paraprofessionals per student than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport.
• Fewer mental health staff per student than New Canaan and Westport.
• Fewer pre-K staff per pre-K student than Darien, New Canaan, and Westport.
• Note: These are all true despite Greenwich maintaining its distributed “neighborhood school” model.
In conclusion, our schools (and Town) can get pushed past a breaking point, especially if we continually elect and empower candidates who refuse to understand how the Town’s budget actually works.
Please vote for all 6 candidates on Row A (Alchek, Deschamps, Erickson, Fenton, Selbst, Weisbrod) who will do the work for all residents and appropriately fund our schools in a fiscally responsible way.
Thank you,
Doug Fenton
Candidate for the BET
Note: The deadline to submit letters to the editor about candidates for consideration in the Nov 4, 2025 municipal elections is Oct 28, 2025 at 12:00 noon. This letter was submitted before the deadline.