LETTERS

Elephant in the room

Posted 8/18/15

To the Editor:

At last Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, Mr. Nadeau gave an eloquent critique of the fact that the School Department is saddled with paying principal and interest on its bonded …

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LETTERS

Elephant in the room

Posted

To the Editor:

At last Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, Mr. Nadeau gave an eloquent critique of the fact that the School Department is saddled with paying principal and interest on its bonded indebtedness. He was absolutely spot-on in his criticism. I’ve been railing about this issue since the mayor first forced – yes, forced – the schools into this situation back in 2009 when the Pilgrim roof needed to be replaced because its condition jeopardized the school’s accreditation.

To paraphrase the mayor in a Warwick Beacon article, he said that “if the schools need a roof, let them pay for it.” So he and the School Committee subsequently came up with some sort of agreement whereby the schools would pay the principal and interest. To argue that they were not forced is silly. In hindsight, perhaps they should have forced a fight on this at that time.

In any event, this stunk then when the payment was $190,000 and it absolutely reeks now that the schools are paying $1.2 million for principal and interest. Now that there’s a consolidation plan in place, there are many capital improvements that must be made in our schools in order to do this right and these payments simply can no longer be borne by the district. Most of these improvements were identified back in 2006, when we voters approved a $25 million bond issue to address these very needs but at the time, the mayor refused to release any of the funds. Just think about that for a second when you ponder about how our city supports our school. 

If in fact the reason we’re paying P&I on bonds is because, at some point in the past, a previous school committee agreed to it in some sort of a written agreement with the city, then, in my view, the School Committee must throw down the gauntlet now and pass a resolution that nullifies that agreement. Further, the legislation that was passed in the General Assembly that allowed for the 2006 bond referendum was unambiguously clear in stating who is responsible for paying principal and interest. The statute said,  “All bonds…shall be obligatory on the city in the same manner and to the same extent as to other debts lawfully contracted by it…” It also states that the city “shall annually appropriate a sum sufficient to pay the principal and interest…” That is crystal clear language. In fact, the School Department should begin to explore whether or not what they were forced into back in 2009 was even legal. 

The bottom line here is that this issue is the 800-pound elephant in the room with respect to a successful consolidation plan. If this practice is allowed to continue then any consolidation plan is doomed to fail as the School Department will simply choke on these payments. Those who argue otherwise must enjoy putting lipstick on pigs. 

Lastly, in case anyone was wondering, to my knowledge Warwick is the only community in the state that allows this to go on. It is a stain on our community that rests squarely on the mayor and the council and it needs to stop. Our mayor and council all say they support our schools, especially when campaigning. Well, my mother taught me that actions speak louder than words. 

 

David Testa

Narragansett

Parkway

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