Teacher Contracts in Arbitration, Committee Member Worries About School Budget

During the Bristol Warren School Committee meeting on Monday night, only one committee member spoke up with concerns regarding the , but it wasn't about cutting costs.

While the towns of Bristol and to figure out where they could each get more than $600,000 over last year's request from the schools , one committee member pointed out that the budget request may actually not be enough.

School Committee member Karen Lynch says the numbers set forth in the budget request are premature given the announcement that the teacher contract negotiations failed and have moved into arbitration. For almost a year, teacher contracts have been under negotiation and have recently fallen into arbitration following a lack of concensus on teacher salaries and benefits.

Lynch said her problem with the budget request is that the estimated "savings" that were factored into the budget were based around teacher salaries and benefits which, she notes, are not guaranteed savings without signed contracts.

"This is very concerning and I think we've put the cart before the horse this time," Lynch said during Monday's School Committee meeting. "We factored in savings that we didn't have."

But Thies says the school budget is "protected by arbitration," which she says works with the budget because teacher salaries and benefits are now non-binding.

Pauline Silva, the district's Director of Administration & Finance, also reassured the committee that all of the numbers have been looked at closely.

"This is a very conservative budget," Silva said. "We're comfortable with it."

Regardless of Lynch's voiced concerns, the proposed budget will be brought to the Joint Finance Committee Meeting on Thursday, March 15, at 7 p.m., in the auditorium for an informational meeting. The district will also continue to work through arbitration to get signed teacher contracts.