Bristol Warren School officials to present $60M budget request

Public hearing on spending plan scheduled for Thursday, 7 p.m. at Mt. Hope High School

EastBayRI.com ·

The Bristol Warren Regional School District will present a  $59.7 million budget request at the Joint Finance Committee meeting Thursday. If approved, Bristol and Warren taxpayers would pay 4 percent more for schools.

The budget for the 2017-2018 school year, if approved, would increase spending in schools by more than $3 million over the fiscal 2017 spending plan, most of which — $2.8 million — would be spent on improvements to school buildings and grounds. There were no capital expenditures in the current budget.

The bulk of the budget — more than $42 million — is earmarked for salaries and benefits for school district employees. Salaries have increased by 2.4 percent  —$700,000 — and benefits went up 1.7 perfect, or $200,000.
Just more than $8 million is set aside for “purchased services,” including transportation and tuition costs each at $2.5 million. Supplies and materials take up $1.6 million, which is actually a $148,000 decrease from the current year. The school district is also responsible for paying $2.6 million in debt service on past loans.

Repairs to school buildings and grounds are budgeted to cost  $11.7 million, $7.5 million of which will be reimbursed by the state Department of Education. Some repairs are planned at each school in the district. The most expensive projects include refurbishing the athletic fields at Mt. Hope High School ($2.7 million), replacing acoustical ceiling tiles at Kickemuit Middle School ($1.4 million), replacing boilers at Guiteras School and Kickemuit ($1 million), replacing bleachers in the Kickemuit gym ($985,000), and repaving the parking lot at Hugh Cole School ($700,000).

The budget would be funded mostly by the towns of Bristol and Warren, which would contribute $36.6 million, an increase of 4 percent over last year’s $35.2 million. More than $14 million would come from the state funding formula. The rest is made up with various state aid and a $2.8 million fund balance for capital projects.

The amount each town would pay into the district is still up in the air as a lawsuit on education aid is pending before the state Supreme Court. Last year, Bristol contributed $25 million, while the smaller Warren paid $10 million. In early 2015, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge ruled that Warren and been paying too much, and Bristol too little, in education aid to the Bristol Warren Regional School District, based on what he ruled was a flawed application of the state’s education funding formula. After the ruling came down, Bristol appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court.

Arguments in the appeal are scheduled to begin Thursday. A loss at the Supreme Court is likely to cost Bristol taxpayers as much as $2 million a year.

School administrators put the budget together with taxpayers of both towns in mind, according to the budget summary.

“The Bristol Warren Regional School District continues to remain cognizant of both towns’ fiscal constraints while adhering to sound accounting principles to manage a budget that provides the best educational opportunities for children,” the summary reads. “Our budget request supports the investment in innovation and professional capital to enhance the future of the children of Bristol and Warren, the viability of the local workforce, and the long-term quality of life within each community.”

Administration officials, including Finance Director Pauline Silva, will present the budget to the Joint Finance Committee during a public hearing Thursday, March 9 at 7 p.m. in the Mt. Hope High School auditorium on Chestnut Street in Bristol. For a detailed look at the budget, click here.

Bristol Warren Regional School District, Bristol Warren school budget