Schools Outline Plans to Get Out of the Red

, the North Kingstown School Department submitted two plans to remedy the possible shortfall to the state’s auditor general.

For the first plan, the schools would receive $712,000 from the Town of North Kingstown to offset the unanticipated revenue losses this year. The school department is pointing to a ruling from state education commissioner Deborah Gist out of Tiverton as to why the revenue deficit is the town’s responsibility. 

In the other plan, the school department would use the remainder of its surplus – approximately $500,000 – to fill the gap, leaving the district $212,000 short of getting the schools’ $58-million budget back into the black.

According to Town Manager Michael Embury, the Tiverton decision is not applicable as it was not a ruling by a court of law. For Schools Superintendent Phil Auger, he believes in a collaboration between the town and schools to remedy the problem.

“What I’d prefer to do is to work with the town and use some of our fund balance and town resources to make this go away,” said Auger.

Earlier this month, the school department – caused by fewer Jamestown students at the high school (resulting in a tuition decrease of about $400,000), $176,000 less in state aid, $125,000 less in Medicaid reimbursement and a $16,000 reduction in indirect costs. The deficit could jump to $1.2 million depending on the outcome of contract negotiations with the Education Support Professionals (ESP) union.

In the event the town provides no financial support to fix the shortfall, the school department plans to drain its fund balance (to the tune of about $500,000), leave a maintenance supervisor position vacant (saving about $40,000), use $25,000 in utility savings from last fall and continue arbitration with the ESP union and, if necessary) make “unilateral changes” to it which would result in $150,000 in savings. .

This week, the . For Embury, the audit is a worthwhile investment for both the town and school sides as it pinpoints the cost of the basic education plan (BEP) – an elusive figure that has been unable to be quantified in recent years. Embury adds that the understanding of what it costs to fund the BEP will lay out a “road map” for the school department and, in turn, help give the town council an understanding of its spending and budget.

“This is going to be very critical for them and to give the council a better understanding of what they’re facing because fiscal year 2013 is literally going to be a blood bath,” said Embury.

Despite pension reform, both the town and schools look to face multimillion-dollar shortfalls next year. Embury estimated a $1.2-million shortfall. For next year, the Town of North Kingstown can only raise an additional $2.6 million in tax dollars under the tax levy cap. Currently, the . The restructuring would implement 24-hour-long shifts for firefighters and save the town anywhere between $800,000 to $1.1 million, according to Embury.

On the school side, Auger projects a $2-million shortfall. Though the figure could have been upwards of $4 million if pension reform had not passed, Auger warns that the upcoming budget season will bring big change.

“A $2-million cut, with all the cuts we’ve seen over the past few years, it’s going to be brutal,” said Auger. “Really, really brutal.”