Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

WARWICK, R.I. -- Almost every aspect of school spending was questioned last night as the City Council dug deep during a public budget hearing aimed at helping it decide how much Warwick can spend on education in the coming fiscal year.

The dialogue was mostly a confusing volley of numbers as council members scrutinized the operation of the School Department, from proposed raises for administrators next year to tuxedo uniforms for some band members and learning toys for the district's early childhood development center.

The School Committee is asking the city to increase its local appropriation to the schools from about $123.9 million to $128 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1. By the school district's calculations, that would give the School Department a budget for the coming fiscal year of about $169 million.

Mayor Scott Avedisian is recommending that the council level-fund the city appropriation at $123.9 million. Complicating matters, however, is the fact that Avedisian's administration does not agree with some of the other figures in the School Department's calculations so both sides have a different number for what the bottom line would be with no increase in city dollars.

School officials estimate that it will give them a total budget of about $165 million while the city pegs the number at closer to $164.6 million.

In any case, the city's share of the school budget is the determining factor in whether the schools will have any additional money next year, since state aid is expected to be the same in the best-case scenario. School officials said they can only hope that the aid does not get cut as it did this year, halfway through the fiscal year.

School Supt. Peter Horoschak and Business Director Leonard Flood fielded most of the questions, giving detailed answers and an opening presentation with spreadsheets and pie charts. In an odd twist, most of the parents who came to the hearing at City Hall were there to jeer school officials and applaud council members when they asked tough questions.

Many of those parents had vehemently objected to the School Committee's recent decision to close the John Greene Elementary School next year as a cost-saving measure.

Overall, school officials described the district as one that has worked hard to save money in recent years -- closing three other elementary schools this fall and cutting teaching and non-teaching staff.

"...The budget was prepared with reality of the economic downturn in mind," Horoschak said. "Expenditures have been trimmed back through elementary school consolidation, elimination of programs which do not sufficiently serve the educational needs of students, and through administrative reductions and operating efficiencies. But the requirements of the state and federal governments, and the community's obligations to public school students continue to increase..."

School officials stressed Monday night that state law prohibits a municipality from decreasing its local appropriation to schools.

The council has little time to decide the matter and is slated to finalize the school and city budgets, and set the tax rate, Tuesday night. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

If the City Council were to grant the School Department's request for about $4.1 million more in local dollars, school officials have said that the bulk of the money -- roughly $2.9 million -- would be returned to the city as payment for the cumulative budget deficits of the past two years.

The remainder, officials said, would be used for much needed roof repairs and building improvements plus contractual raises and benefits for teachers. Under a contract extension negotiated last year, teachers gave back part of their pay raises for the current school year and will receive a 2.25-percent salary increase next year.

In return, their health-insurance premium co-payments were kept status quo at a flat rate of $11 per week per employee.

When council members repeatedly pointed out that the School Committee had won no health insurance concessions in that renegotiation, Committee Chairman Christopher Friel countered that the schools' health benefits pale in comparison to what the city gives its employees.

Avedisian was recently able to renegotiate the labor pacts with all city unions in which employees not only made wage concessions but agreed to increase their health-insurance payments to $28 per week.

Friel said that while that is true, the schools do not provide lifetime health insurance like the city does and it requires co-payments from retirees while the city does not. If the School Department's benefits matched what the city gives it employees, it would cost tens of millions of dollars, he said.

 Tags  budget schools Warwick

Comments

resident said:

! By the way, has the projo considered reporting what percentage of Warwick teachers actually live in, and thus have their kids enrolled in, warwick? The answer: very few. If the schools are not good enough for the kids of the teachers, then the schools are not good enough period! Lets demand vested interest, and residency!

Link | June 2, 2009 1:54 AM
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Oceanus said:

"School officials stressed Monday night that state law prohibits a municipality from decreasing its local appropriation to schools." How can this be? If property owners are losing their jobs and homes and can't pay taxes, where is this money supposed to come from? I don't understand how the amount of spending can't be reduced, when there is no money??? This applies to all state/local government.

Link | June 2, 2009 12:50 PM
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