Local leaders are calling on Yale — the largest property owner in New Haven — to increase its contribution to the city’s financially struggling public education system, which is funded through local property taxes.
With around 60 percent of all property in New Haven, Yale holds $4.2 billion of the $9.8 billion property-tax-exempt land in the city as of 2022. In Connecticut, where around 92 percent of education funds are raised through local property taxes, cities like New Haven with large tax-exempt landowners struggle to fund their schools, experts told the News. This school year alone, New Haven Public Schools is missing $11.8 million in funds necessary to maintain current programs.
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With the expiration of federal emergency education funds from the pandemic, urban districts across the state are facing large budget deficits, including NHPS. This shortfall is exacerbated by long-standing inequities in the distribution of property tax revenue in the state, according to Michael Morton, deputy executive director for communications and operations at the School + State Finance Project.