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REGULAR SESSION
APRIL 12, 2017
PRESENT: Margaret M. Healy, President
Abel G. Collins, Vice President
Bryant DaCruz
Liz Gledhill
Joe Viele
The following members of the School Committee are present: Alycia Collins, Chairwoman, Roland Benjamin, Myrna Bizer, Michelle Brousseau-Cavallaro, Raissa Mosher, and Stephen Scott Mueller.
Also present: Stephen A. Alfred, Town Manager, Patricia Sunderland, Finance Director, Dr. Kristen Stringfellow, Superintendent, Maryanne Crawford, Business Manager, School Department, Colleen Camp, Executive Assistant, Chelsea Siefert, Director of Planning, Jackie Corea, Police Executive Assistant, Joseph Geaber, Interim Police Chief, Jon Schock, Director of Public Services, and Aimee Reiner, Director of Administrative Services.
The Pledge of Allegiance is given.
Roll Call is taken, four members are present. Council Vice President Collins is absent.
Notice having been duly given, a Public Hearing, with School Committee participation is held relative to the Town Council’s Preliminary Budget for FY 2017-2018 as adopted on March 13, 2017. This Public Hearing will address all funds contained within the Town Council’s Preliminary Budget.
Stephen A. Alfred, Town Manager discusses the budget process up to this evening and the process as we go forward from this point. When the Town Council adopts its budget it adopts a budget with ten different funds. Two of the funds of most importance are the General Fund and the School Fund. The other eight funds are associated with the Utilities including Water, Wastewater and Solid Waste, others are associated with Debt Service as well as the Recreation Programs and Senior Program. All of the funds have been reviewed by the Town Council over the course of the last three months.
On March 13, 2017 when the Town Council adopted a Preliminary Budget for FY 2017- 2018 a small adjustment was made in the General Fund and a substantive adjustment was made to the School Fund. The School Budget that was submitted to the Town Council required a 2% increase in the tax transfer to the School Fund. The 2% request that was submitted to the Town Council would have required $1,027,774 increase over the base year. At its meeting on March 13, 2017 the Town Council amended the proposed preliminary budget by reducing it by .65% from the 2% or an overall increase of $693,739 resulting in a deficit in expenditures over revenues of $334,018. The School Committee met on March 29, 2017, and at that meeting a number of possible revisions were discussed, and after deliberation and review of $334,018 in potential adjustments the School Committee determined that they were not prepared to adjust its budget but wished to have additional discussion with the Town Council.
School Committeeman Mueller comments that the School Committee looked at the potential cuts list of items that would balance its budget down to the 1.35% increase in the property tax transfer, reviewed it at a special budget meeting and voted that the impact of the cuts on our children were too severe and requested the Town Council to return to the question of the property tax transfer with the School Committee’s recommendation that the property tax transfer be returned to 2%.
School Committee Chairwoman Collins reiterates what School Committeeman Mueller indicated, that the School Committee is not prepared to make the cuts that are presented at the 1.35% property tax transfer, it is their position that the cuts are unacceptable. She hopes the Town Council can reconsider its position. The School Committee is willing to work with 2%.
Council President Healy comments that as the Town Council President her phone has been ringing off the hook. She is in support of the schools and in support of the increase for the school budget. It is not a matter of declining enrollment it is a matter of cost of living increases, healthcare benefits and educational benefits and as your Town Council representative she is an advocate for the increase to the 2% and will support the school to the best of her capability. She would not like to see programs such as CARES being cut.
Councilman DaCruz comments that there is not one person on the Town Council that does not support our schools. It is a difficult budget year. Initially when the Town Council met with the School Committee the number was 4%. The presentation was based on 4%. Could someone on the School Committee tell us the difference between the 2% and 1.35% in reference to cuts.
School Committee Chairwoman Collins comments that she thinks that Councilman DaCruz had access to the powerpoint from the March 29th meeting. Most of those items hadn’t changed from the previous meeting with the Town Council when we showed you what would happen at a 1% property tax transfer. I think the Town Council has had plenty of time to understand what the consequence of a 1% would be.
School Committeeman Mueller comments that when he thinks about the difference between a 2% transfer and a 1.35% transfer he thinks about some of the programs that have been in the district for years, programs that are uniquely targeted at our most vulnerable students. We have a model program in SKCARES, in round numbers two hundred volunteers. They work with the kids not for months but for years focusing on keeping kids in school, keeping them motivated to learn, getting them to graduation. SKCARES is on the cuts list. It is a relatively small budget item, and it makes a huge difference in terms of the quality of education and our commitment to address equity within quality education. The SMILE program has been around for years, Carol Englander has been running it. It is a program targeted at vulnerable students, young women, focusing on science and Carol has created an enviable reputation and database getting those students from early on through the high school to graduation and onto college. Frankly there is more money brought in from our contribution to that program. If we cut this around $30,000 will leave the school system because of that cut. The hallmark of South Kingstown public education is a commitment to quality, making these cuts is stepping away from that commitment. He is most concerned with the students that struggle.
Council President Healy comments that she has personally been involved with SKCARES starting 20 plus years ago as a mentor and is still involved with SKCARES today. To see a program like that be cut is a detriment, we can’t do that. We need to help these kids I am passionate about these programs.
School Committeewoman Mosher comments I am going to back up to Bryant’s concern that we originally asked for 4%. Back in December there was confusion amongst Council members about what a proforma is. Will one expert explain what a proforma is because we presented to the Town Council zero, one, two, three and 4% increases to the property tax transfer. There was confusion that the proforma budget was what we were asking for.
Councilwoman Gledhill comments I understood that the proforma was not a request for 4% but the budget that was presented was over 4% because it was a proforma, it wasn’t the final presentation so I think that is where the confusion is.
School Committee Chairwoman Collins: it is as if we were to run our programs the same as they had been without any eliminations, it would have been close to five percent. No one here was thinking that was appropriate to ask for.
Stephen A. Alfred, Town Manager comments that a proforma is the first time somebody looks at a program and if everything that you wanted in a program was going to occur in the program within reason what would it cost you. When the School Department started this year they estimated a budget that was going to cost substantially more than 4%. In fact, it was about $630,000 over on the proforma. When the Town Council met with the School Committee in December there was concern in regard to how many additional dollars were going to be provided based on the reduction in students that was continuing. The Council was concerned and indicated that you cannot start at a proforma number and say that everything from that proforma number is a cut because it is not a cut. It is recognized that all budgets need to be balanced and that you need to look at both the expenditure and revenue statement and the revenue statement needs to be conservative. You always start with a proforma out of balance. The key is to find where the balancing point is, where you can meet what your necessities are and generate the revenues that are necessary. We need to get away from the proforma and get back to the true budget that the School Committee requested is the one that was presented and adopted at the 2% level and the true number that the Town Council is at is $334,000 out of balance.
Council Vice President Collins arrives at 7:26 PM.
Councilman Viele comments that he recently watched an interview with Ken Wagner, Director, Rhode Island Department of Education. Some of his comments were that the challenges are not in the workforce, the challenge is in your leadership. Dr. Wagner also said there is no evidence that more money produces better results. The answer is not more money were his words. He said, you need to challenge your leadership. If you take the average cost per pupil in the State of Rhode Island our town spends $2,000 more per pupil. Other communities are figuring this out. North Kingstown and Portsmouth are $2,000 less per student. I think the administration needs to be challenged to figure out how to get the cost per pupil down. Scott, the two programs you referred to come to about $40,000 and it is a little bit hard to swallow that in a $60,000,000 budget you couldn’t find the $40,000 somewhere else. If our average cost per pupil were the same as North Kingstown, our budget would be $6,000,000 less and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
Council President Healy respectfully agrees on the cost per pupil but you also have to look at how many schools the other cities and towns have, because that weighs into the cost per pupil. If you look at North Kingstown they don’t have as many as we do and Portsmouth certainly doesn’t, nor does Narragansett. The cost of facilities weighs into the cost of educational expenses and benefits for our children. Do I want to pay more money? I am a taxpayer too and I don’t have children in the school district anymore, but am I willing to pay that burden to make sure our kids are well educated -- you got my vote every day.
Councilman Viele: I love kids, I want these kids to have a quality education, don’t interpret my comments to be mean spirited, we all want the same goal.
School Committee Chairwoman Collins comments that the former Commissioner of Education, Deborah Gist actually directed the South Kingstown Town Council in a sense to lean more on its property taxes to pay for our schools. She cut the funding to our district, it is about $500,000 less than last year and every year we have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the State of Rhode Island. The reason was South Kingstown can afford to invest in public education more than it has. Since that time the School Department has either been level funded or we have received a nominal increase. The surrounding towns are asking for considerably more in funding than our request of 2%. South Kingstown also pays much more in transportation costs because of the size of the town. The State is increasing its education budget by 3% this year.
School Committeewoman Bizer comments the greater question is what sort of town are we going to be for the next 20 to 30 years. Are we going to attract a regeneration of population or are we going to be a retirement seaside community. These investment decisions in regard to the schools impact that and reflect what the values of the town are.
School Committeewoman Brousseau-Cavallaro comments you keep comparing us with the Town of North Kingstown as far as the school budget. North Kingstown just approved a 3.9% increase to the property tax transfer to the Schools, but in addition to that in the current fiscal year North Kingstown stands to lose approximately $150,000 in state funding and over the last four years North Kingstown has lost a total of $300,000. This fiscal year alone we are losing $475,000.
School Committeeman Mueller comments that he wants to agree with something that Joe said. I don’t think anyone here doesn’t like kids but that is not the question we are dealing with. You don’t sit on the Town Council or on the School Committee without a commitment to the Town and without a desire to do what is best for the people in South Kingstown, however while we share the common commitment to South Kingstown and the children of South Kingstown we have very different ideas on how to serve them. The Town Council with some legitimacy said suppose we gave you less money what would you do? Frankly, that is not in the domain of the Town Council. The decisions about the expenditures of dollars are in the domain of the School Committee. The aggregate transfer of money is in the domain of the Town Council and only in their domain. The School Committee with due diligence answered the questions. You wanted to know if we had a property tax transfer increase of 1.35% what the School Committee would cut and the School Committee has been very specific about that. What Joe is suggesting is he would like to see other program cuts and I am confident that everyone has favorites and everyone thinks they have the definitive answer as to what needs to be cut. There is no ambiguity about the answers that we have given you. Now the question is are you willing to make those cuts. Do they seem like they will be the best thing for our children. We are aghast at those cuts. That is why we voted to come back and say please take another look at this.
Councilwoman Gledhill comments that everyone has made some good points and that there is no one here that wants to cut SKCARES or the SMILE programs. Everyone has an investment and has had children in South Kingstown schools and she will shortly. We all want good things for our constituents and our residents. She agrees with some of the points that Joe made but disagrees with the measure of per pupil expenditure that in a state as small as Rhode Island it is a difficult way to measure the success of the district and what it means to the students. From a community standpoint the number more represents what the education is worth to the children and more communities would be in a better place if that is how they looked at that rather than comparing themselves to neighbors. She takes concern with how this shifts the School Committee and the Town Council have to come together to decide how much money we are going to spend. The power that the Town Council has is how much we are willing to give for the school budget, we can’t decide how the money is spent. It is not up to us. It is frustrating on both sides. The vote that we did on the 16th was preliminary and this is why we are having these discussions. Nothing is final yet and frankly I want to hear from the people that are here and what their opinions are. We have time before we vote on this and we don’t know which direction it is going to go in. Frankly, we don’t know what is going to happen next year with the new education secretary and how our funds are going to be directed.
The following members of the public are present and comment:
Emily Cummiskey speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Andrea Spaziante speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Neile DiNitto speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Kathleen Gorman speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Susan Kimmerlein speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Larry Englander speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Abby Walsh speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Lily Schofield speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Steven Licht speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Scott Kushner speaks in favor of the 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Bob Trager, Jr. expresses concerns with whether or not our money is being well spent with the declining enrollment.
Cathy Fogarty speaks in favor of the 2%+ increase to the property tax transfer; she is a teacher at South Kingstown High School and a resident of Narragansett.
Nicole Mulanaphy speaks in favor of the 2%+ increase to the property tax transfer.
Brooke Conley speaks in favor of a 4% increase to the property tax transfer.
Chris Hubbard speaks in favor of a 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Raymond LeBlanc speaks in favor of a 2% increase to the property tax transfer.
Sarah Markey speaks in favor of 2% + increase to the property tax transfer.
Tia Beckman speaks in favor of adequate funding.
Council President Healy comments that she does not have children in the school system anymore but both of her children did go through the school system. She listened to the English teacher from the High School and her influence was awesome with her daughter. She is now a very successful English teacher herself. She is fully supporting the 2% increase and asks everyone at the Town Council table who was wavering before to reconsider and support our children, teachers and community.
Brian Levine speaks in favor of the 2% increase in the property tax transfer.
Laura Roebuck speaks in regard to the fear tactics being used at Matunuck School in regard to kindergarten placements.
Councilman DaCruz comments that he was never against the 2% increase to the property tax transfer even though it may seem like that to the community or the School Committee. What I do want to make sure is that the money is well spent. If you don’t spend the money well or wisely there is a child, a teacher that we are not helping. If you throw the money away it is not going toward the teacher, the child, or the janitor. I am in support of the 2% but I am so happy to see that there are a lot of parents that are becoming more involved in our school system to help keep everyone accountable and make sure the money is well spent to make sure our community is affordable. It is very difficult for people to move into our town which is contributing to the low enrollment. There is also the fact that there is a lower birth rate. We need to make sure that our town remains affordable.
Council Vice President Collins comments that he has always supported the 2% property tax transfer and would be happy to entertain the 4% which will come before us in a couple of weeks when we finally have to approve the budget, so I hope to see some of your faces on that night. I am inspired and really admire the movement that is starting here. Your testimony has been really compelling. It looks as though you are going to get the 2% that you want. Come in a couple of weeks and push for more.
Council President Healy thanks everyone who has come out this evening. Your passion speaks volumes, it truthfully does, you care about the community, you care about the teachers and most importantly you care about the children in our town. It is our responsibility to respect your wishes as our constituents because you are all voters too. I want to do the right thing and I am sure the Council wants to do the right thing and most importantly you want to protect the children and make sure they have the means for a successful education. I thank you for coming out. It is truly inspirational.
Councilwoman Gledhill comments that she can’t agree more. It is so inspiring to see everybody here. I look out and see my first grade teacher, my English teacher and one of my science teachers, and first gym teacher. It is really something to look out there and see that and I don’t know how anyone can’t feel compelled to when you see the faces of your childhood, staring back at you, telling you this is what I want from you. It is certainly a lot of emotion and a lot of very passionate people and topics here tonight. I just wanted to clarify one thing though. I didn’t know about the kindergarten classes going down to one class until this weekend when I started getting calls from people. It certainly wasn’t something any of us were on the know about earlier, we still don’t know as the Superintendent indicated last night’s School Committee meeting, what is going to happen. I just wanted to thank everyone, we are going to have another meeting tomorrow night and I am sure we will hear from even more people. Part of our job here is to challenge leadership, to not take every staff member at their word, to push back, to ask questions, but it is also on the community to hold people accountable and stay involved and not just show up a few days before a budget session or when thing get really tough.
Councilman Viele comments this is democracy. I still feel very strongly about my position, however I’ve learned from early on as a Councilman this is a numbers game, if you get to three you win and I applaud you, congratulate you for all coming out and speaking tonight. You want a balanced Council, you want people who are going to represent a balanced Council, a Council that will represent everyone in town, including the children. Thank you for coming out and I congratulate you.
Councilman DaCruz comments that he thinks one thing that is really important is to understand that the Council’s job is to approve the budget of the School Committee, not to tell them how to spend it. As parents and teachers and residents of the community you need to make sure your voices are heard so that we keep our checks and balances in place as to where the money goes.
Adjourn at 8:43 PM.
ADJOURNED,
Dale S. Holberton, CMC
Town Clerk