Budget Passed With Room For Teaching Assistants

The Woonsocket Education Department has officially balanced their budget, tackling a $2,549,032 deficit after a dramatic presentation and approval of a plan worked out by the Finance Sub-Committee. After a few tweaks and a bonus in expected state revenue, the School Committee unanimously approved the new spending plan at Wednesday night's meeting.

"If all of the recommendations are approved tonight, you'll see a zero next to the deficit," said Superintendent Robert Gerardi at the start of a long and, by his own admission, painful, budget discussion. "There's plenty of pain to go around," Gerardi said of the reductions, which came up to significantly more cuts in staffing than originally predicted by school auditors.

The committee ultimately cut more than 20 staff members plus all of the city's long-term substitutes, managing to hold on to kindergarten teaching assistants and three additional custodial positions with the help of state aid.

Nasty weather cancelled enough of the school committee's meetings throughout early 2011 to create a genuine sense of urgency to last night's decisions, with a March 1st state deadline fast approaching. Details of WED's plan to comply with the budget were hashed out over the past several weeks by a Finance Sub-Committee consisting of Gerardi, Chairman Marc Dubois, Committeewoman Eleanor Nadeau, business manager Stacy Busby, and a representative from the Woonsocket Taxpayer Coalition, president Steve Lima.

Although the Education Department sent out 101 pinks slips to city teachers yesterday, only six teachers from Woonsocket High School were ultimately cut from the department's new operating budget, along with one social worker, one LEA, one guidance counselor, and two members of the city's utility staff. 

Crowds of education professionals came out to protest one cut originally in the sub-comittee's plans: the elimination of kindergarten TAs. All ten positions were slotted for reduction by the sub-committee until a 4 p.m. phone call by business manager Busby confirmed some additional state revenue.

This bit of good news, coming in the form of an additional $674,342 calculated under the fair funding formula, was held by Gerardi until well into the two and a half hour meeting, allowing for public commentary on the sub-committee's initial recommendations.

"Five year-olds don't know budgets and politics," said Wendy Carey, a kindergarten teacher at Leo Savoie Elementary, "but even they know what they need." Carey was among several educators and parents who spoke out about the importance of having TAs in kindergarten classrooms. 

Gerardi and Busby, seemingly the only parties in on the half a million plus dollar secret, quickly outlined a alternate plan for how to use the state funds to save TAs plus three utility staff jobs.  

The last remaining dispute in the final plan revolves around scheduling at Woonsocket High School. Though the committee agreed to drop block scheduling, final decisions on the number of classes in a day at WHS will await recommendations by the high school faculty.