R.I. School Districts Cutting to the Bone (RI)

September 7, 2010

Cranston did away with its prized gifted-and-talented program. And many sports programs.

West Warwick closed a neighborhood elementary school.

East Providence laid off 29 teachers and increased class sizes.

Smithfield eliminated middle-school French and elementary instrumental music.

Across Rhode Island, school districts have been making tough decisions about cutting academic programs, teaching positions and extracurricular activities — the harsh consequences of deep reductions at the State House in aid to education and the financial strains in communities that can’t tax residents to provide additional resources.

State aid to education was slashed by $29 million for 2010-’11. And some cities and towns are considering cutting their own support to schools by 5 percent, a move allowed by the General Assembly after Governor Carcieri stopped sending municipalities their portion of car tax revenues.

In response, school committees have negotiated concessions from teacher unions that include pay reductions, salary freezes and increased health-insurance costs to save money and preserve teaching jobs.

But often even those concessions have not been enough to prevent dramatic cuts.

The fiscal situation has not been this bleak for the state’s 300-plus public schools since the banking crisis of the early 1990s, said Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees.

“Many districts are peeling away anything not required by state law or the BEP,” Duffy said, re ferring to the new state “Basic Education Program,” which lays out the bare minimum required by school districts to offer students an adequate education. The new BEP went into effect July 1.

Some of the education cuts are hard to see, such as consolidating department heads in Warwick or trimming supply budgets in West Warwick. Others are more obvious.

“Districts are clearly consolidating a lot of programs and some of the areas that get impacted most are Advanced Placement [AP] courses that have fewer kids in them,” Duffy said. “A lot of the cuts that impacted urban districts five years ago are now visiting themselves on suburban districts and more affluent communities.”

Budget cuts in Lincoln prompted the layoff of 28 teachers and forced the suburban district to back off its plan to expand to full-day kindergarten this year.

But last-minute concessions from the teachers’ union that brought back 11 teachers, and some creative shifting by Supt. Georgia Fortunato, made full-day kindergarten possible.

“We had to close an early learning center, Fairlawn, and we certainly wouldn’t have done that if our budget had stayed the same,” said Elizabeth Robson, chairwoman of the Lincoln School Committee. “But we reduced our reading program by four teachers so we could open four kindergarten classrooms. Our thinking was that students attending full-day K would make gains in reading earlier, reducing the need for reading specialists later.”

Class sizes are pushing up against the maximum allowed in the teachers’ contract in Smithfield, with 24 students per class at the elementary level and 28 or 29 students in the seventh grade.

The economic crisis “has had a big impact,” said Supt. Robert O’ Brien.

Cranston, the state’s second-largest district, has been particularly hard hit by budget problems. It lost $2 million in state financing for 2010-’11 and $1 million last year. The district also has an $8-million deficit it must pay back to the city over five years, after the district lost a lawsuit asking for additional money for schools.

This year, the district shuttered its popular enrichment program for 300 to 400 academically gifted students, a severe blow. Last year, the district did away with all middle school sports and, this year, all freshman sports were also eliminated. Private donations brought back freshman football, but ninth-grade baseball and basketball are gone.

“People don’t realize how essential private fundraising is to all our sports. For years, we haven’t bought bats or uniforms,” said Supt. Peter Nero. “We just supply the basics for these kids and now we can’t even do that.”

Three elementary music programs –– strings, chorus and band –– have been cut, and the student activity account that pays for yearbooks, the science fair and drama clubs was slashed in half, to $47,000.

A math coach, two reading specialists, two special education teachers, six technical assistants for career and tech and automotive programs and a high school business teacher are all gone.

The district doesn’t have a dime set aside for “asset protection,” an account for emergencies like a leaky roof.

“If it’s not required in the BEP, we cut it,” Nero said. “I’ve been in education for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Kevin Sheehan, West Warwick’s superintendent, agrees. Over the past three years, his district has lost $6 million in state and local financing.

West Warwick closed the Maisie E. Quinn Elementary School, a savings of $750,000, despite loud protest from parents who wanted to preserve their neighborhood school.

He scoffed when he heard other districts were cutting gifted, French and music programs.

“We don’t have those luxuries to begin with,” Sheehan said.

Like many districts, West Warwick has been bringing back students with special needs who previously were sent to private schools in an effort to both save money and better serve students.

“We’ve brought back about 90 kids in the past two years,” he said. “But when you don’t have an assistant special education director, even though you have 900 children in the district with special needs, and you don’t have an assistant superintendent or a curriculum coordinator or any assistant principals at the elementary schools….. The point is, we are beyond the point where you look at the budget and are cutting. We can’t even cut the crayons any more. There are no more crayons.”

These cuts come at a critical time for public education. National and state officials are asking schools and teachers to do more than ever before, above all to improve student achievement.

Sheehan says despite the reductions, West Warwick is reaching for this goal. “Despite it all, our student achievement is increasing,” he said.