School Committee Predicts $1 Million Shortfall in Proposed Budget

The Newport School Committee tried to come up with creative ways to ease a projected $1 million shortfall for Fiscal Year 2012 during a budget meeting Monday night. Since the last budget workshop, the school committee has shaved its proposed increase from 1.61 percent to 1.36 percent, and continued to look for available cuts.

The current budget proposal now comes in at approximately $37.6 million, up approximately $500,000 from last year.

According to Interim Business Manager John Souza, the school department has $1.1 million earmarked for the Fiscal Year 2011 budget, which leaves $292,259 to be applied to the 2012 proposed budget.

Superintendent John H. Ambrogi said one issue with this year’s budget proposal is the uncertainty in what the school department will receive in state Impact Aid. Ambrogi said he believes they are on target for Medicaid and tuition, however have produced a deficit regarding teacher salaries.

During Fiscal Year 2010-2011, the school department expended $19.5 million in teacher salaries, dropping 3.6 percent below the available funds, creating a deficit of approximately $636,000.

This year’s budget proposal requests $18.7 million for teacher salaries, in addition to $219,000 for professional development days, which prorates each teacher’s salary for those two days .

Ambrogi explained the deficit to be a result of several employees out on medical leave who still collect full salaries, and having to pay their substitute teachers, who also now garner regular salaries. He said special needs students are also not factored into the budget, who often present unexpected costs in individual services.

The budget request for retiree benefits is also up about $800,000, due to the rising amount of recent retirees in the school system.

The committee also discussed whether Underwood Elementary School would be able to become a Title I school, and thus receive Title I funding from the state.  Approval would allow the school to hire teachers with federal money rather than local funds.

“We’re all pretty strapped here,” Ambrogi said, referencing a loss of IDEA funding resulting in the termination of the World of Work program.

Committee members suggested hiring more Teach for America teachers, however Ambrogi dispelled the notion that the volunteer educators come free, but are rather paid at a small cost from the school department.

“[The Teach for America teacher] was not hired for budgetary reasons,” he said.

School Committee Chairman Patrick Kelley  questioned whether has actually reduced the amount of staff adequately in respect to the amount of students in the school system.

“The fact is our cost per student is among the highest in the state, but we continue to have declining student enrollment,” he said.

The school department has reduced staff by 25 percent over the past five years, but are not able to continue staff reductions because of contractual obligations, Ambrogi said.

“We [eliminate positions] whenever it’s not violating a collective bargaining agreement,” Ambrogi said.

Kelley said it remains difficult to request additional aid under the claim the schools are underfunded while retaining a high cost per student, and the committee needs to continue to find ways to make the budget proposal work “around $36 or $36.5 million.”