West Hartford Public Schools

In March 2021, superintendent Tom Moore proposed a 176.3 million dollar budget for the 2021-2022 academic year. An increase of 2.28% or 3.93 million dollars. Increases in the budget are a result of salary increases, student outplacement, and transportation for additional busses for special education needs.[3]

In November 2019 the board of education removed a plan to have to schools start at a later start time. The claim is that later start times for high school students is more beneficial for their mental and physical health. The cost of transportation would exceed 2 million dollars if high school and middle school started at 8:15.[4] The issue was brought up again at a board of education meeting in February 2020. At this meeting the West Hartford board of education supports a statewide move to require that students in grades 6-12 to begin academic classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. so they can arrive at school “healthy, awake, alert, and ready to learn.”[5]