The Bristol Warren Regional School Committee approved a revised budget for the 2021-2022 school year during their meeting Monday night that includes the re-hiring of approximately 13 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff throughout various schools, as well as a capital plan that will kickstart at least $2.6 million in construction projects throughout the district.

The report to the full school committee came from the newly-hired Anthony Ferrucci, the former chief financial officer for Warwick’s public school district who was hired to take over as Bristol Warren’s CFO in May, shortly after the school committee reluctantly voted to accept a recommended budget that included a wide swath of cuts, including 25 staff positions.

Mr. Ferrucci described in a recent interview how he began work in the district in early July and immediately saw the need for a re-evaluation of the financial situation following the departure of multiple administrative staff in a short period of time. This included the special education director, the special education director’s secretary and the district’s business manager — who all left in June — and, of course, the departure of Superintendent Jonathan Brice in mid-July. Additionally, Mr. Ferrucci was tasked with working with a personnel director who had only begun in April.

“This was the most unique situation I’ve seen,” Mr. Ferrucci said, who is starting his 23rd year in public education. “A lot of people were looking [at the financial situation], but it’s about continuity. I think everybody attempted to do the right job.”

He began the long process of evaluating the financial picture from the end of the 2020-2021 school year and the budget that had just been adopted for the year ahead.

The result of that investigation proved fruitful, as he was able to find that last year’s budget resulted in a $340,000 surplus rather than the approximately $1.18 million shortfall that was anticipated, due to state aid coming in more than $1 million over what was expected. There were also unrealized cost savings throughout the district, he reported, “probably due to the fact that we still had a level of virtual learning, so the in-person expenses were not incurred.”

As a result, Mr. Ferrucci was able to utilize the $1.18 million in unassigned fund balance that was going to be used to close last year’s budget and instead apply it to the budget ahead, which closed a $1.03 million gap and prevented the severest degree of cuts once initially thought necessary.

“He’s actually spent 13-hour days combing through all this and it really shows,” said school finance committee chairwoman Sheila Ellsworth during the meeting. “We appreciate you getting us back on track.”

Tangibly, Mr. Ferrucci’s work enabled the district to add approximately $700,000 in staff throughout the district, including a custodian, a full-time second-grade teacher and part-time help in the art, music and PE programs at Colt Andrews Elementary School, as well as seven FTEs at Kickemuit Middle School, including three teaching assistants, two English teachers, a foreign language teacher and a custodian.

Mt. Hope High School got back 4.6 FTEs, including a boost to the theatre and speech departments, as well as multiple teaching assistants and a part-time custodian. Mr. Ferrucci was also able to include an addition of $291,000 in the budget for the annual lease payments of Chromebooks.

Mr. Ferrucci told the school committee that he will be implementing the same practice he utilized in Warwick, where mid-year budgetary updates are given in November and March to make them more aware of how the financial situation is shaping up, as opposed to what was budgeted. That way, he said, they will be able to better anticipate staffing needs and understand variances within the budget.

“The team that’s being developed here understands where we are and understands what we need to do to be in the right spot come next spring,” Mr. Ferrucci said.