"Save Fort Barton!"

"Five schools strong."

"We love our schools and teachers!"

"Do better."

Tiverton school officials, and their counterparts on the town council, got an eyeful when they arrived for a special meeting at the high school Monday evening called to discuss the school district's finances, and a $1.2 million drop in state education aid to the district this coming year.

While the meeting wasn't called to talk about the possible closure of the Fort Barton School, several dozen parents and school children showed up anyway, holding placards, cards and signs imploring the town to find an end to the fiscal crisis that superintendent Peter Sanchioni said could threaten the elementary school, or force the district to lay off specialists across the district.

As meeting participants arrived, protestors chanted words of support and drove home their point with mostly hand-made signs.

Many of the kids stayed on for the meeting, seated next to their parents in the auditorium, keeping busy as best they could and seemingly uninterested in the adults on stage who were addressing a topic that potentially could have a huge impact on their day-to-day lives.

No answers yet

The meeting was a long-awaited gathering of representatives from RIDE and the RI Department of Revenue and local school and town officials, during which an unwelcome message regarding the state’s education aid formula was delivered: Tiverton’s declining school enrollment, increased median household income, and its rising property values have helped create a perfect storm that makes any adjustment to next year’s proposed education aid to the town highly unlikely.

The meeting stemmed from the January announcement that the governor’s budget calls for Tiverton’s education aid to drop by almost 18 percent – $1.2 million – for fiscal  year 2025 – the largest cut to any municipality in the state. Town and school officials were shocked by the news and have been trying to make sense of the numbers ever since.

Monday’s meeting brought school committee and town council members together with state finance officials who participated via a video conference call. Senator Walter Felag, Jr. (D-Dist. 10) and Rep. John G. Edwards IV (D-Dist. 70) also attended.

In discussing how the state arrives at the numbers, and whether any adjustments are feasible, Steve Coleman, head of municipal finance with the state department of revenue, told town and school officials that education aid is based on a fairly rigid formula based in part on income.

According on 2022 data, Tiverton’s median family income was $108,000 — versus $95,000 statewide. The higher number puts the town at a disadvantage in education aid calculations, he said.

Another impact on state aid is fluctuations in special education enrollment and in anticipated third party reimbursements to the district. The school committee anticipates that special education costs in general will increase by more than $1 million in the coming year.

The first half of the nearly two-hour meeting focused on gathering feedback from state officials. The second half involved a discussion between school committee and town council members relating to the school budget and next steps in resolving the shortfall.

Many of the community members and parents who came out have been hyper-focused on town budget news ever since last month’s school announcement that it is considering one of two options – the closure of Fort Barton Elementary School or implementation of massive staffing reductions district-wide to resolve the district’s current budget crisis.

There was no resolution on the Fort Barton issue Monday night.