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This would all be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. A school committee and unions that cry poor mouth over a budget that spends $19,000 per student in a failing system. People are "outraged" and "infuriated" by perceived funding 'shortfalls', yet nary a word is spoken when it is revealed that only 12.7% of Pilgrim students are competent in Math, by far the lowest of any surrounding community. The answer, always: More, More, More money!. Financial inputs are closely scrutinized while measurable outcomes are glossed over or ignored completely by a school committee that abdicated responsibility years ago, and a school administration that lacks any semblance of accountability. All while over 100 'dedicated professionals' call in sick every Friday during the school year. Then we trot in the requisite non-profit director whose job, coincidentally, depends upon Warwick taxpayers, and enlightens us that "This is a $300 million budget..." while the budget is $165 million. But what's $135+million when somebody else is paying the bill...? Does anyone think that if the budget doubled to $330 million these kids who are "...going through some serious stuff" would magically be cured? Does anyone really believe that if we paid each teacher an additional $25,000 that kids would learn more? How does a town like West Warwick, with a significantly higher poverty rate than Warwick and a per-pupil expenditure that is 16% LESS than Warwick, significantly out-perform Warwick students in both language arts AND math?! Hell, Cranston East, where nearly half the students live in poverty and where they spend 20% less than Warwick has higher math scores than Pilgrim! And it's not close. The bottom line is this: Warwick continues to spend more and more money on fewer and fewer students in a completely directionless system that many informed parents have abandoned. A disproportionate number of those students are pudgy, disheveled, and unfocused because their parents allow them to be pudgy, disheveled, and unfocused. And millions more will not change that one iota.