hi Sam,
Please check the facts. The schools did not receive a 2% increase last year. Mr Embury was playing word games by saying that and the press ran with it...it was 2% of some number, not sure what, but definitely not a 2% overall budget increase. Even Embury eventually explained that when asked by the TC that it wasn't a 2% increase, but that was after the main discussion later in the evening, and is now just a footnote. This is how misinformation becomes supposed fact....

Funny that the School Budget always "assumes" the maximum property tax increase possible. Shortly thereafter, the teachers union packs the School Board/Town Council meetings with teachers and students to demand more money, predicting dire consequences should a single dollar be lost. Yet after these maximum 4% budget increases are rejected, the school leadership suddenly finds income "that they didn't expect" and get by just fine. Getting tired of the annual dog and pony show people?

The vast majority of the School Budget--a large chunk of the town budget and getting larger--is personnel costs. If it is truly all about the kids, perhaps the well-paid teachers (5rd highest paid in the U.S.(http://712educators.about.com/od/jobopenings/tp/teacherpay.htm)) could forgo raises for a a few years--as federal employees have--and pass on the personnel savings to the student needs. After all, throwing money at schools does not improve performance (http://www.golocalprov.com/news/exclusive-national-education-rankings-ri/).

Governor gumps budget proposal announced last night includes increased aid to towns and cities for education, not a cut, so lets stay focused, and see how our school committee and council spin this.

TC member Mckay is on another planet. What do you expect he's part of the NKGOP that has given NK multiple blackeyes and financial mismanagement. Although I hate to agree with Mr. Boscardin he is somewhat correct. Although the pertinent issue is more about the abysmal scores achieved on the most recent NECAP scores.The educational product in this town is at best mediocre.
It's time to look at the delivery system and the components of that system. It's time for the peolpe of NK to ask the hard questions-what's really going on in the school system. Why are we receiving mediocre results for top dollar?
Hello SC cares to comment? Please don't reply with the usual political speak and jargon that is code for excuses.

We need to talk to neighbors and friends, forgo the hectic schedules and attend the SC and TC meetings. We need to start showing up in large numbers and start asking the hard questions. A lot of things go on while your looking the other way.

CORRECT that personnel are the majority of the towns costs and school teachers are the largest chunk. A private school can get a qualified motivated and effective teacher in front of a class for $45,000 and normal benefits, and private school teachers can be replaced easily when proven ineffective. The union public teachers are paid $75,000 (!) for a job with ten weeks a year off, they are hard to evaluate and replace, and they get great benefits (at great cost) and when they finally retire, cost us ANOTHER approx 1.5 MILLION to complete their pension payments on average. WOW. Nothing like paying $2 for a $1 dollar bill huh!

When did teachers become so unappreciated? Teachers are worth every penny they are paid and until we realize that we are destined to end up with overpaid babysitters and a whole district of schools that are in the Warning category. It's a very slippery slope.

The big problems many of these municipalities will find is they are charging way too much on property tax bills. It's becoming too damned expensive to live here. The school committee, to its credit, has kept the spending in line. The town, on the other hand, has been slowly increasing its budget and has been driving up the taxes. If you do your checking, you will find North Kingstown, one of the most expensive towns to live in in Washington County. Municipalities have been burning through their budgets year after year, increasing their spending without regard to the plight of the taxpayers. People are starting to leave and the census study backs that up. One thing is for sure, a retired person can not afford to live in this town!

NK Voter
Don't be misleading. Everyone knows (as I'm sure you do as well) that the school budget is the largest portion of the town budget. The schools have far more employees and more obligations on their side of the budget. Yet over the past four years, almost all increases in local taxes (about 5 million) has gone to the smaller portion of the budget, the town side. The town budget in proportion has increased greatly while the schools have been almost flat for years. The audits and the budgets online can confirm these numbers. The impact of that is undeniable. Spin all you want, but your taxes have gone up every year during an economic crisis, and the town is the one responsible for that. End of story. Also, your silly point about how YOU want to add the debt on school buildings to the school budget is just that, silly. Debt on Town buildings, and that includes all the schools in the town, are the town's responsibility and are in the town budget, rightly so. The town owns the buildings, makes the decisions with respect to any bonds related to those buildings, ultimately must pass and administer those bonds, so of course that debt is on the town side of the budget. This is the same anti-schools silliness that Bill Mudge was spouting at the last meeting...make the schools pay for the school debt!!! really? Let's be rational here.

Frankly Dave, it's kind of funny asking me to "be rational" after that rant :)

Facts: % of property tax: School vrs General Fund
2008-09: 62 cents on the dollar went to the schools.
2010-11: 67 cents on the dollar went to the schools
2012-13: 66.4 cents on the dollar went to the schools

As for the school budget being "flat" overall:
School Budget (Town contribution—from the adopted 2012-13 budget)
2011: $55,181, 557
2012: $58,092, 043
2013: $57, 243, 694

An overall increase of 2.1 million dollars from 2011 to 2013 is fairly generous, given that the school population has been decreasing for many years while the town population has grown slightly.

As for the claim that the majority of local (I assume you mean property taxes) taxes for the last 4 years going to the town side of the budget, that is also fallacious. In 2011 and 2013 (2012-13 adopted budget), tax levy data shows the majority of new revenue went to the schools. You are, however, correct for 2012--and the fact that % wise, the town side got the best of the deal. Again, town growing, students decreasing....

NK_Voter wow thats an eye opener. DID the schools get level funded, or NOT???? Assuming they are true, your numbers very concisely say NOT. I like may others just want the truth. You seem to be willing to ferret the truth out. Have you thought about taking the reins of the defunct NK Taxpayers Organization?

Looks like NK_Voter got the last word.

Not only did the schools get level funded by the town, it happened twice in the past four years, yet the town has never taken a 0% increase on their side of the budget. I don't know where NK voter is getting his numbers, but here are the numbers straight from the town's website, 2012-13 adopted budget:
TABLE #3: PROPERTY TAXES BY FUND Revenue Description 2009 Adopted 2010 Adopted 2011
Adopted 2012
Adopted 2013
Adopted
Levy Limit 5.00% 4.75% 4.50% 4.25% 4.00%
Actual Levy 4.86% 1.02% 3.90% 2.79% 2.21%
Current Year Taxes
General Fund 12,787,396 13,147,909 14,532,158 16,512,231 17,093,830
Debt Service 4,265,198 4,467,795 4,467,762 4,467,763 4,467,763
Library 1,102,538 1,124,589 1,124,589 1,132,589 1,177,893
Schools 42,827,726 42,680,515 43,420,838 43,420,838 44,2892552
Total 60,982,828 61,420,808 63,545,348 65,533,421 67,028,741
Increase in Tax Dollars 2,801,683 330,584 2,124,750 1,988,072 1,495,320
4.82% 0.54% 3.46% 3.13% 2.28%

As you can see, the increase in tax dollars from local taxes to the schools has been 1.46 million dollars over the past FIVE budget years, with two of those years having either no increase or a slight decrease in local funding. Yet the town has increased their funding by 4.5 million. That is an amazing imbalance considering the school budget is much larger than the towns. Message: the town needs to do some work cutting their side of the budget.

I maintain that there is no common sense in including service for town bonds that happen to be on school buildings in the school budget. The Town would simply be giving the schools the money, and the schools would give the money right back to the town, since it's the town who actually pays the debt service bill. Please realize that the town's much smaller side of the budget received three times as much local revenue as the much larger side. You can see the impacts of that clearly as the schools have made many cuts to their budget over those years, while I have yet to see any significant cuts to the town budget, with the exception of their debacle with the firefighters. And thank you, NK voter, I did have a great weekend, hope you did also.

Looks like Dave got the last word.

@Dave, very much enjoy the diversionary and discretionary ramblings as it seems you prefer to indicate that a wrong deserves another wrong. Savings should apply across the board which is apparently in contrast to what you feel. Money being spent and sometimes wasted is mine and yours (I think) money. Any and all savings should be implemented immediately across the board or possibly...........your justiications show that at some level your're a school employee.

nkp, no, I believe I said efforts need to be across the board, as of yet, they have not been. BOTH sides need to cut and continue to look for savings, I pay particluar attention to the town side, as no one has been doing so for many years, and they need to be scrutinized far more closely.

nkp, no, I believe I said efforts need to be across the board, as of yet, they have not been. BOTH sides need to cut and continue to look for savings, I pay particluar attention to the town side, as no one has been doing so for many years, and they need to be scrutinized far more closely.