Narragansett school budget moves to second district-wide vote
By Ken Cleveland / Correspondent
Posted Aug 29, 2019 at 2:08 PM
TEMPLETON — The Narragansett Regional School Committee has stuck with
its number by voting a school district budget of $19.7 million.
That figure had not won approval at the district-wide meeting on Aug. 21. The $19.5 million figure approved by voters from Templeton and Phillipston needed School Committee OK to be adopted.
That means the process continues, and a second district-wide meeting is planned for Sept. 25.
Staff members are preparing classrooms for students even as the budget is an unknown.
Voters who turned out Aug. 21 should put Sept. 25 on their calendars and plan to be at the Narragansett Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m. for the second round of the debate on the budget.
The vote has Templeton officials concerned.
“This means that we really must now consider that we will be in a stalemate until Dec. 1 and using the joint meetings as a pointless pawn in this fiscal process,” Templeton Selectmen Chairman Michael Currie said after the vote on Aug. 27.
“If the School Committee keeps unanimously voting for the top number, then we will continue to march toward the December deadline.
“Now, they stated that there is nothing to cut, therefore no room for compromise,” he said, adding the committee has been reminding people that they already came down from the original $20.4 million budget.
Currie said district officials said only a configuration
change would yield the necessary funds for school cuts, “meaning that
they would need to close the Phillipston facility.”
Parents had objected to the early reconfiguration plans and pressured the school board to reverse them, which they did using a variety of funds that are normally not used and adjusted the budget to $16.7 million.
“On budget cuts, we would need to go much deeper to satisfy the larger Templeton share,” Currie said. “We can weather $100,000 to $200,000. We cannot weather $400,000-plus. Our largest budget expenditures are public safety and public works; those line items will likely be affected.”
Currie said the process could continue until the state steps in.
The regional school district does have a budget, just not approved by the people of Templeton. The district is in a one-twelfth budget, which means because the town didn’t approve a district budget by July 1, the Department of Education (DOE)‘s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) instituted the 1/12 budget by using a formula from previous years’ budgets so that the school can continue to function.
“If we, the communities, don’t settle on a budget by Dec. 1, then DESE and DOE takes over and calls the district shots for the rest of the fiscal year. School is going ahead full steam,” Currie noted, adding he had attended the district schools’ kickoff event on Aug. 28.
As the town and school proceed into the fiscal year with budget issues, both defended their need for limited taxpayer funds.
“The School Committee seems like they are loaded for bear, as
they are completely unwavering from the $19.7 million number,” Currie
said, noting that represents a Templeton assessment of $6.9 million,
which is “about $410,000 more than we can afford.”
“I’d like to think that my board is still open for compromise, but it seems unlikely. It does not seem like it is about achieving balance and living within the community’s mandates,” Currie said, referring to the override that was “defeated resoundingly.”
Currie said he had hoped to be refining certain school estimates for line items that frequently turn back funds at the end of the year, “basically taking some risk on the line items that aren’t staff.
“If the town — the Board of Selectmen — can figure out a compromise, it will likely only come with significant sacrifice to the town’s budgetary practices or the community itself” through service cuts.
The School Committee must approve any budget figure that voters pass.
Adjustments get harder the further into the year the process goes since cuts must then come from the remaining budget, increasing the depth of budget reductions. That had Templeton selectmen starting the process for the municipal budget in case more cuts were needed.
Templeton selectmen have stressed they will not consider a second tax-raising attempt after the voters in the spring election defeated an override.
As students watch the process, Currie was questioned about the lesson they are getting from the town and school leaders.
Currie said Superintendent of Schools Christopher Casavant talked about that issue at the kickoff.
“He even showed the lawn signs calling for him to be fired. His point was that there are visual impacts of how we are letting this play out in full view of the students,” Currie said. “His discussion about how the teachers can impact students was driven home by a ‘counter lawn sign’ drawn by a second-grader that said, ‘Don’t fire Dr. Casavant.’
“The point was well taken by the group, but for the purposes of this question, I took it as that we are certainly seeing some polarization and some hard lines in the community and social media,” he said.
“My issue is that we are talking about services that we are struggling to pay for in a community where the median income and household value is hard pressed to fully fund every initiative, service or community expectation. The town was doing much better, and that fact is buried as the school was short revenue this year.”
Currie said the issues will continue into the next year.
“We will be revisiting this as the fiscal year 2021 budget cycle starts fairly soon and the ink still isn’t dry from fiscal year 2020, Currie said.
“Unfortunately, red ink,” he added.
That figure had not won approval at the district-wide meeting on Aug. 21. The $19.5 million figure approved by voters from Templeton and Phillipston needed School Committee OK to be adopted.
That means the process continues, and a second district-wide meeting is planned for Sept. 25.
Staff members are preparing classrooms for students even as the budget is an unknown.
Voters who turned out Aug. 21 should put Sept. 25 on their calendars and plan to be at the Narragansett Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m. for the second round of the debate on the budget.
The vote has Templeton officials concerned.
“This means that we really must now consider that we will be in a stalemate until Dec. 1 and using the joint meetings as a pointless pawn in this fiscal process,” Templeton Selectmen Chairman Michael Currie said after the vote on Aug. 27.
“If the School Committee keeps unanimously voting for the top number, then we will continue to march toward the December deadline.
“Now, they stated that there is nothing to cut, therefore no room for compromise,” he said, adding the committee has been reminding people that they already came down from the original $20.4 million budget.
Parents had objected to the early reconfiguration plans and pressured the school board to reverse them, which they did using a variety of funds that are normally not used and adjusted the budget to $16.7 million.
“On budget cuts, we would need to go much deeper to satisfy the larger Templeton share,” Currie said. “We can weather $100,000 to $200,000. We cannot weather $400,000-plus. Our largest budget expenditures are public safety and public works; those line items will likely be affected.”
Currie said the process could continue until the state steps in.
The regional school district does have a budget, just not approved by the people of Templeton. The district is in a one-twelfth budget, which means because the town didn’t approve a district budget by July 1, the Department of Education (DOE)‘s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) instituted the 1/12 budget by using a formula from previous years’ budgets so that the school can continue to function.
“If we, the communities, don’t settle on a budget by Dec. 1, then DESE and DOE takes over and calls the district shots for the rest of the fiscal year. School is going ahead full steam,” Currie noted, adding he had attended the district schools’ kickoff event on Aug. 28.
As the town and school proceed into the fiscal year with budget issues, both defended their need for limited taxpayer funds.
“I’d like to think that my board is still open for compromise, but it seems unlikely. It does not seem like it is about achieving balance and living within the community’s mandates,” Currie said, referring to the override that was “defeated resoundingly.”
Currie said he had hoped to be refining certain school estimates for line items that frequently turn back funds at the end of the year, “basically taking some risk on the line items that aren’t staff.
“If the town — the Board of Selectmen — can figure out a compromise, it will likely only come with significant sacrifice to the town’s budgetary practices or the community itself” through service cuts.
The School Committee must approve any budget figure that voters pass.
Adjustments get harder the further into the year the process goes since cuts must then come from the remaining budget, increasing the depth of budget reductions. That had Templeton selectmen starting the process for the municipal budget in case more cuts were needed.
Templeton selectmen have stressed they will not consider a second tax-raising attempt after the voters in the spring election defeated an override.
Currie said Superintendent of Schools Christopher Casavant talked about that issue at the kickoff.
“He even showed the lawn signs calling for him to be fired. His point was that there are visual impacts of how we are letting this play out in full view of the students,” Currie said. “His discussion about how the teachers can impact students was driven home by a ‘counter lawn sign’ drawn by a second-grader that said, ‘Don’t fire Dr. Casavant.’
“The point was well taken by the group, but for the purposes of this question, I took it as that we are certainly seeing some polarization and some hard lines in the community and social media,” he said.
“My issue is that we are talking about services that we are struggling to pay for in a community where the median income and household value is hard pressed to fully fund every initiative, service or community expectation. The town was doing much better, and that fact is buried as the school was short revenue this year.”
Currie said the issues will continue into the next year.
“We will be revisiting this as the fiscal year 2021 budget cycle starts fairly soon and the ink still isn’t dry from fiscal year 2020, Currie said.
“Unfortunately, red ink,” he added.
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