Council quizzes schools over $161M budget

By Matt Bower
Posted 5/24/16

Although the School Department has traditionally asked for additional funding from the city in order to balance its budget; that is not the case this year. The department appeared before the City Council Saturday morning to present its

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Council quizzes schools over $161M budget

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Although the School Department has traditionally asked for additional funding from the city in order to balance its budget; that is not the case this year.

The department appeared before the City Council Saturday morning to present its budget, along with a number of other city departments.

Superintendent Philip Thornton’s $161 million FY17 school budget maintains level funding of city support at $119 million, while adding several new initiatives, including all-day kindergarten at all elementary schools; purchasing new technology, such as Smart TVs, for modern multi-media classrooms; increasing social workers; hiring math interventionists; implementing language labs, digital photo labs, and music exploratory labs; purchasing equipment for high school fitness centers; and restoring middle school sports.

Chief Budget Officer Anthony Ferrucci explained that in the past, when the school department has had a budget surplus, that surplus is carried forward into the next operating budget, but that is not being done for the FY17 budget. Not carrying forward the FY16 budget surplus results in a $3.1 million shortfall in the FY17 budget, which Ferrucci said will be made up through savings generated from the consolidation of schools.

Closing Gorton and Aldrich junior highs, and re-purposing Warwick Vets as a super junior high, is projected to save the district approximately $5.8 million. That savings comes from an overall staff reduction of 49.55 full-time equivalents (FTEs), 42 of which are teachers, which is projected to save $4.2 million in salaries and $1.5 million in benefits. The 42 FTEs represent approximately 65 teachers, which were recently laid off by the School Committee. Ferrucci explained that some of those teachers are part-time, meaning they only work 20 hours a week, therefore two part-time teachers would represent one FTE.

According to the Warwick Teachers Union (WTU) contract, no more than 40 layoff notices can be sent to teachers in a year, 20 of which must be called back, meaning no more than 20 teachers can be laid off each year. However, teachers have been operating without a contract since Aug. 31, 2015, when the previous contract expired. The WTU is currently in arbitration with the school department over terms of a new contract. The school department believes it can lay off more than the contracted 20 teachers because there is no contract to abide by. The WTU has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the Labor Relations Board. The department has sought a ruling from Superior Court that it has the right to downsize.

“There was a court action we took to see if the school department can reduce more than the 20 teachers from the last contract,” Thornton said.

Darlene Netcoh, a member of the WTU, said the union tried to negotiate throughout the summer of 2015, but the school department decided to go to mediation.

“The superintendent attended one session then they went to arbitration, which is where the legal funds are going,” she said.

Ferrucci said there are currently no raises for teachers built in to the salary line item of the budget.

When asked how the school department would handle the situation if it were to lose in court and have to call back 22 of the 42 laid off FTEs, Ferrucci said, “Once we know the final results, we will present a revised budget to identify how expenses would be absorbed.”

Ferrucci said if that were to happen, it would result in an approximate $2 million hit to the budget.

“Built in to the budget is $1.7 million of savings in breakage,” Ferrucci said, which he explained as the replacing of retired teachers with less senior teachers, therefore paying them less. He said that whatever savings are generated through breakage would be applied toward the $2 million deficit, as well as drawing on money from the substitutes line item.

“If we come in under for subs, it becomes part of the general surplus,” he said.

If those two sources weren’t enough to close the gap, Ferrucci said program cuts would have to be looked at.

Although the tone was more respectful and discussions between the City Council and school department were much more cordial than in the past, council members still had a number of questions for the school department.

Ward 4 Councilman Joseph Solomon asked about unemployment funding for the laid off teachers and what steps the school department is taking to assist them.

Ferrucci said the unemployment line item has been increased by $85,000 for a total of $200,000.

“We expect considerable [unemployment] numbers over the summer,” he said.

Ferrucci said the unemployment period is between 24 and 26 weeks and estimated it would cost $500 to $600 per week per person. He said benefits for laid off teachers would expire on Sept. 1.

As far as assisting laid off teachers, Ferrucci said one of the first steps would be to look at certifications of teachers that have been laid off that match certifications of retired teachers and use them to fill in for retirements “to get them off the unemployment role and to restore benefits.”

Ward 9 Councilman Steve Merolla said one issue that hasn’t been talked about is state aid to education and expressed his disappointment with the current funding formula.

Ferrucci said the funding formula includes a provision that determines how much a community can tax its residents.

“Warwick can contribute more, so that lowers how much we’re provided per student,” he said. “Cranston receives about $20 million more [than us], even though we have similar enrollment numbers.”

Merolla said it’s a shame that everyone is fighting to get a piece of the pie.

“I’m sick and tired of Warwick being at the bottom of the list,” he said. “This needs to change and we need to advocate for it at the State House.”

Ferrucci said the matter was brought up with Gov. Gina Raimondo during a recent education forum held at Warwick Vets.

“The governor is taking it under advisement to address the issue in the formula,” he said.

Merolla also pointed out that since 2008, the city side of the budget has increased from $67 million to $107 million, while the allocation for schools has increased from $118 million to $119 million. He said since 2004, city health care costs have gone up $7.7 million, a 64 percent increase, while schools went up $1.5 million, a 9.8 percent increase. Also since 2004, he said city pensions rose by $16.1 million, while school pensions went up by $5.4 million.

“With 65 layoffs this year, plus hundreds more over the last 10 years, I don’t know how much more the school department can take,” Merolla said. “Cutting programs and employees over the last 10 years while continuing to provide services, it’s remarkable how you’ve limited the cuts. I’m hoping for a new day and that it turns around.”

Ward 1 Councilman Steven Colantuono said he received an email with the assertion that some of the changes being made in the district are watering down education and forcing down enrollment to private institutions.

“Do you look at why students leave and how many are leaving?” he asked. Loss of students

Thornton said on average, the district loses 40 to 50 students per year going from junior high to high school.

“I don’t believe the changes we’re making are watering down education. We’re improving programming and looking to add more, such as increased AP courses,” he said. “We’re also adding online courses to make programs better.”

Colantuono said he understands many are concerned by the changes with consolidation, but he said Thornton’s visibility has been helpful and described the contact he’s had with him since being named superintendent as “refreshing.”

Council President Donna Travis asked about current student enrollment and why the Reading Recovery program was cut.

Thornton said there are currently 9,000 students in the district, down from 12,000 in 1992 and 19,000 in 1970.

“When we looked at Reading Recovery, we found that only 45 percent of kids were where they should be,” he said, adding that because Reading Recovery is an intensive one-on-one program, it limits how many other students reading specialists can service. “We’re moving toward working with small groups of kids so we can service all kids in the district.”

The school department was also questioned about average class size numbers and what they will be after consolidation.

“We’re actually lowering the current cap from 28 to 25 at the high school level,” Thornton said. “It will be even lower at the [junior high] and elementary level.”

Thornton said elementary class size would be between 19 and 24 students, junior high would be 21 or 22, and high school would range from 10 to 25, depending on the course.

Ward 5 Councilman Edgar Ladouceur wanted to know why administration hadn’t been consolidated along with teachers in light of decreased student enrollment.

“It’s unfortunate that administrative consolidation didn’t occur,” he said. “How do you need the same amount of administrators with far less students?”

Thornton said it’s not always a one-to-one correlation.

“If we close two [elementary] schools, I still need an elementary education director,” he said.

Thornton said a new administration model is being implemented, which reduces some positions while adding a chief academic officer at the recommendation of long-term planning consultant Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA). He said the new model would save $251,000.

Netcoh said according to SMMA numbers, in the time that student enrollment went down by 25 percent, administration rose by 25.7 percent. She said in that same time period teachers had been reduced by 20 percent.

Ladouceur also asked if the department has given any consideration to solar power as a means to lower utility costs.

“We were approached by potential contractors for solar and wind. So far it’s just been an initial reach out to meet with us,” Ferrucci said, adding that the department plans to research the matter in October and come up with a plan in December.

Schools were also asked about funding for special education.

“The trend is going down by bringing kids back into the system and reducing out-of-district tuition costs, but at the same time prices are going up,” Ferrucci said.

He said special education costs have gone from $5.9 million in 2014 to $5.8 million in 2015 to $6.2 million for the current year, and looking at $6.8 million for next year. He said the $500,000 increase for next year includes the contingency of seven students going out of district.

Ward 3 Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson asked if department head positions were part of the teacher layoffs.

“There are a few less department chairs being modeled at the high schools,” Thornton said, adding that they’re actually increasing at the junior highs, where they had previously been eliminated and high school department chairs were splitting time between the high schools and junior highs.

Thornton explained that one of the assistant principals at each of the high schools will be a vice principal of academics and writing, who will take on the responsibilities of current department chairs.

“Current department heads will become full-time teachers through the job fair,” he said.

Netcoh, English teacher and department chair at Toll Gate, wasn’t confident about the department head change.

“We have department heads because they are certified in content areas,” she said. “One person in the building won’t be able to fill those content needs. A team leader [at the junior highs] is not the same as a content area specialist.”

A couple other department heads echoed Netcoh’s comments, one of which said she received a letter last Saturday notifying her that her department chair position was being eliminated.

“I’ve seen the quality of education change at the high school in the past 20 years that I’ve been there,” said Ken Castellone, the business department chair at Toll Gate. “Teachers are working really hard and department heads are working with their principals. I can’t imagine one person doing the kinds of things I do to keep the program afloat and I fear we will lose business finance and technology education because there won’t be someone there to fight for it.”

Michelle Curran, business department chair at Pilgrim, said department chairs are entrepreneurs and go-getters.

“Our job is to make students employable. We need financial literacy in schools,” she said. “Many colleges across the country are increasing financial literacy demands; who will help kids meet those demands?”

Solomon reminded the audience that the council doesn’t have any control over school budget line items or personnel expenditures.

“We can’t amend or change their budget,” he said.

Travis added, “We sign the check, but we don’t control where the money goes.”

Ward 7 Councilwoman Kathleen Usler asked Thornton, “If you had an additional $300,000, what would you do with it?”

Thornton said infrastructure is first and foremost, but he would also look to increase the number of math interventionists, which is currently at six.

“I know my brothers and sisters on the council are good money crunchers, so we’ll see if we can find some money to throw your way,” Usler said. “Keep your hands open.”

The first session of budget hearings was held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Budget hearings were scheduled to continue Monday night at City Hall.

Comments

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  • Rockpt

    1. When did the term teacher get replaced with the term FTE? Sems like these big talkers are making up lingo to confuse and manipulate the public. Speak english.

    2. Theres no way you can have 49.55 human beings, so let's call it 50, and stop trying to saw people in half. That's cruel.

    3. You know these guys are going to try to sell the Aldrich property to some Twinkie factory for big bucks. Can anyone explain where all of that bonus money is going? Or did Avedisian and Thorton "forget" to factor that $ in to the budget because they already bought their plane tickets for the vacation they are going on?

    4. A bunch of schools already closed a few years ago. This is old news. Big promises were made last time for taxpayer savings, yet my taxes still went up. Where's the money from the last time they evicted school kids? Did Avedisian bury the money in a treasure chest at rocky point? Money doesn't disappear into thin air. Where are my savings from these changes? I want a piece of the pie.

    A deliberate omission of information can be considered unethical if the lack of information alters outcomes. Too many holes in this budget for my taste. I smell bullshit.

    Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Report this

  • markyc

    The School Committee members appear to be highly educated but with little common sense. The consolidation process which includes improvements to Pilgrim & Vets has been mismanaged. Of course there has been few bidders on the needed improvements-these bids should have been advertised back in the fall & awarded in the winter. It's little wonder that contractors already had there summer schedules booked leaving little flexibility to meet the School Committees deadline of completion 10 days before the start of school in August; never mind the asbestos issue. 7 o'clock School Committee meetings? Regardless of the scheduling issues( it's comical that the SC couldn't find dates/times convenient for teachers/parents/other interested parties to meet in the early evening) this is further bad PR for a school committee that could use a little good PR. How can you send out layoff notices to 60+ teachers when the prior contract(which under teacher contract negotiations for dummies basically has the parties operating under the previous one) limits it to 20 layoffs. Consolidation/the teacher contract negotiations/improvements to Pilgrim & Vets/the fall schedules/ Personnel issues- all appear to reflect that the Warwick School Committee have not properly planned &/or exercised due diligence in ALL these matters.

    Thursday, May 26, 2016 Report this