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As a member of the Bristol Warren School Committee I feel it is necessary to respond to "Transplant's" statement regarding our infamous "books." The Bristol Warren School District lead the state in being the first school district to build our budget using the Uniform Chart of Accounts that all school districts now use. The uniform chart of Accounts breaks down our entire budget from our entire budget down to every pencil and paper clip in the district. Then our budget is scrutinized by the a State Auditor General of the State of a Rhode Island and approved. Every year we provide each Town Council and the Joint Finance Comittee our entire budget broken down to the last pencil. I won't pretend the a Uniform Chart of Accounts is easy to decider but year after year we invite Both Town Councils and JFC to meet with our Chief Financial Officer to answer any specific questions they may have and how exactly to read the uniform Chart of Accounts. Never once has any official from Warren ever gone to one of those meetings. Our books are open every year, we build our budget the same way every school district in this state builds their budgets and we have nothing to hide. Maybe if the Cities and Towns were also required to use the Uniform Charts of Accounts, this transparency would show it is not us who has something to hide. We cut 8 1/2 full time positions this year alone and that was before the JFC voted that we need to cut an additional $450,000. We are also at the tipping point where further cuts will mean cutting programs for kids something we have tried desperately not to do since the enacting of the new funding formula and the loss of the regionalization bonus. So "transplant" our books are open, they are public and they are reviewed every year by the state.

From: Stanley: Lack of tax base, JFC voice crippling Warren

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.