JFC cuts $1 million from Warren, Bristol school budget

Meanwhile, Warren to pay $2.8 million less this year, and Bristol $2.8 more, after court ruling

Posted 4/6/16

Warren will pay nearly $3 million less, and Bristol $3 million more, to educate their children this coming year, after the Joint Finance Committee set the Bristol Warren Regional School …

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JFC cuts $1 million from Warren, Bristol school budget

Meanwhile, Warren to pay $2.8 million less this year, and Bristol $2.8 more, after court ruling

Posted

Warren will pay nearly $3 million less, and Bristol $3 million more, to educate their children this coming year, after the Joint Finance Committee set the Bristol Warren Regional School District’s budget for the 2016-17 school year last Thursday evening.
The significant re-apportioning of local education aid comes after Warren officials last year contested the application of the state’s educational funding formula, claiming that they were paying far too much, and Bristol far too little, in local education aid. Thursday’s $53.6 million budget approved by the Joint Finance Committee seemed to bear that out, re-distributing the local burden significantly between the two towns. In all, Warren will pay roughly 20 percent less on education this year, while Bristol will pay approximately 11 percent more.
At the same time, the finance committee reduced the school department’s budget request by approximately $1 million, a move that Superintendent Mario Andrade said will force he and his staff to make significant staffing, class and program cuts in the coming weeks.
"They cut us by $1 million,” he said Tuesday. “What they voted on was level funding, which in essence is one million dollars less than what we asked for . . . approximately $700,000 under the current budget.”
He said the school department may increase class sizes and decrease the teaching staff in order to meet the recently-approved 2017 budget. The department already cut two special education positions in advance of the new budget. Fewer buses on the road and a decrease in summer school classes may be next.
"The cuts could lead to the elimination of summer school, elimination on some buses, reduction of bus transportation, reduction on some classroom instruction. We would look at possibly larger class sizes. It's a million-dollar cut. That's just the beginning."
Dr. Andrade will present his budget cuts to the Bristol Warren Regional School Committee before school breaks for summer.
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC), led by Chairman and Warren Town Council president Joseph A. DePasquale, heard Mr. Andrade's proposal on Thursday, March 31, at the Kickemuit Middle School. There was no discussion and no dialogue between the school department and the committee that approves its budget. After Dr. Andrade's presentation a three-page motion from the JFC was read into the minutes. And then the vote.
"I'm really disappointed. We presented a really modest budget with a .64 (percent) increase. We were expecting a little more from the Joint Finance Committee."
Dr. Andrade said he understands the financial difficulties faced by both Bristol and Warren. Warren, Bristol and the regional school district are still waiting for final word from a state Superior Court judge on whether Warren’s interpretation of the state funding question is correct. Though Judge Luis Matos issued a preliminary ruling in Warren’s favor 11 months ago, local officials are still waiting for him to release his final written decision. In addition, the ruling has been appealed by Bristol to the RHode Island Supreme Court, and that case is in process.
"I'm happy that the department of education set out the (funding) formula based on Judge Matos's ruling," Mr. DePasquale said. "But until the appeal process is over we have to be prepared for anything."
Warren officials appear to have suspected for months that their share of local aid would be reduced this year. Last November, the town council voted unanimously to make monthly payments to the school district based not on previous joint finance rulings, but on what they believed was the correct application of the formula. At the time, Mr. DePasquale said, councilors agreed to hold the difference between those two amounts in escrow, reasoning that if they were ultimately proved wrong, they would reimburse the district.
“It’s easier to pay something back than wait to get a refund if you’ve paid too much,” Mr. DePasquale said late last year.

Significant re-distribution of local education aid

Warren education aid this coming year: $10.03 million
Current year: $12.83 million
Change: $2.8 million reduction

Bristol education aid this coming year: $25.17 million
Current year: 22.37 million
Change: $2.8 million increase

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