Members of the Cranston Public Schools community made their case to City Council members last week for full funding of the district’s budget plan for the coming fiscal year – and while the council is on track to provide some additional money through its budget amendment process, it appears likely the school system will still face a shortfall.

A large audience of School Committee members, administrators, teachers, parents and students filled City Hall’s Council Chambers on April 24 as the council’s Finance Committee held its hearing on the $163.87-million school budget plan.

Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse said at present, a gap of $935,635 exists between what the district is seeking and what would be allocated based on state aid projections and Mayor Allan Fung’s approximately $298-million city budget proposal.

She noted that the district had received some “good news” since it submitted the budget proposal to the mayor’s office.

In terms of state aid, new projections from the Rhode Island Department of Education restore approximately $265,000 of the $663,700 the district had been set to lose through reduced aid and new tuition costs for Training School placements.

“I don’t know the reason for it, I don’t know how they figured it, but I’ll take it,” she said of the Training School tuitions, which were reduced from roughly $164,000 to just less than $55,000.

The superintendent also noted that Fung’s budget provides $1.5 million in an additional local appropriation for the district – less than the roughly $3.1 million that had been requested, but significantly more than the mayor’s plan has provided in recent years.

Additionally, the School Committee’s formal vote to close Chester W. Barrows Elementary School at the end of the current year will save approximately $420,000, she said.

Nota-Masse cautioned that the state aid figures remain a “constantly moving target” until the General Assembly finalizes the state’s budget for the coming year. She urged council members to provide additional funding to allow the district to fully fund its fiscal plan.

“Families move to Cranston for the high-quality education and the services their children receive within our public schools … Unlike some of our neighbors, our population is steady and even slightly increasing, and our programs are flourishing within the areas of career and technical education,” she said.

She added, “Please continue to support our students and our staff and allow for an increase in our budget share for the next fiscal year. I assure you, it will be for the best.”

Others echoed the superintendent’s request. They noted that the district’s budget includes initiatives such as a focus on controlling class sizes in grades K-2.

“I ask you to fully fund the budget. It’s the right thing for our city today, it’s the right thing for our schools, and I think it’s the right for Cranston’s future,” said Dan Wall, chairman of the School Committee and the representative from Ward 6.

Citywide committee representative Michael Traficante, who has served as mayor and a member of the council, said he understands the “difficulty of formulating a municipal budget.” He also said the district is “grateful” for Fung’s proposed additional appropriation and the city administration’s support of capital projects for the school system.

Still, he said, he has an “obligation … to advocate for the 10,000 students that we serve each and every year.”

Ward 5 committee representative Janice Ruggieri took issue with the way the district’s funding requests have been received. She specifically pushed back against the city administration’s statement that much of the revenue from a proposed 2.37-percent tax increase would go to the school district.

“I would love to see the outrage if any other department of the city, never mind the largest department of the city, was given half of what they asked for, and then get blamed for, or get attached to, 70 percent of a tax hike … Who’s getting the other 30 [percent] of that but not getting blamed for it or not getting attached to it?” she said.

She added, “It’d be really nice to not have to continue to do more with less … It would be really nice if we were given parity, and that’s all that we are looking for.”

Ward 2 committee representative Stephanie Culhane noted that the gap between the district’s budget plan and the proposed appropriations is smaller than it has been in previous years, and she asked the council to “make us whole.”

“We’re so close. This is the closest we’ve ever been,” she said.

Culhane praised the staff of the city’s school system, many of whom she said stay despite more lucrative opportunities in less successful districts elsewhere. She favorably contrasted the performance – and responsibilities – of Cranston’s school administrators with those in neighboring districts.

She also echoed Ruggieri in taking issue with anyone who engages in “pitting the school department up against other departments.”

Ward 3 committee representative Paul Archetto, who previously served on the council, said the school system has made “hard choices” such as the Barrows closure.

“There’s so many changes in education going on … We need to be progressive and come up with some money for these new ideas,” he said.

Council President Michael Farina said providing support for the school system is “very important” to council members.

“I don’t think this council has an adversarial tone … the reality is, we’re spending more money this year in a lot of different departments and there is a tax increase,” he said. “I don’t think anybody on the council equates that increase to just the schools.”

He added, “If there’s money to be found in this budget, rest assured, we will give it to the schools.”

On Monday, as the Finance Committee met to consider amendments to the mayor’s budget, council members made good on that pledge – albeit through an unexpected source of funding.

Farina said during the review process, it was discovered that the Fire Department’s budget for the coming year was based on a complement of 197 firefighters – one more than the actual staffing level of 196.

“There was an erroneous firefighter added to the rolls,” he said.

As a result, the council approved several amendments that essentially de-funded and eliminated the 197th firefighter position, transferring $100,000 – a figure officials said have been rounded off – to the Cranston Public Schools for the intended purpose of funding an additional social worker at the high school level. That would allow for one full-time social worker at both Cranston High School East and Cranston High School West.

“My hope would be that, based on discussions with Superintendent Nota-Masse and School Committee members, that they would add a second social worker at the high schools,” Farina said.

Robert Strom, the city’s finance director, said the 197th firefighter position had been added to the current year’s budget to compensate for an anticipated retirement in another position. When the budget plan for fiscal 2020 was compiled, he said, “we kept it the same by error.”

The Finance Committee on Monday approved several other amendments that Farina described as “structural” and focused on correcting errors and oversights that were discovered during the review process. It also forwarded the amended budget to the full council for approval.

Farina said the council’s Republicans had caucused ahead of the Finance Committee meeting. Neither he nor any other GOP council members offered additional budget amendments on Monday.

“These were the easy cuts … but at this point now, anything would have to be a cut to something that’s already in the budget,” he said. “That’s always harder to do.”

Ward 2 Councilman Paul McAuley said the council’s Democrats planned to caucus on May 1, ahead of the scheduled budget adoption meeting of the full council scheduled for May 2. He said any Democratic amendment proposals would be brought forward at the adoption meeting.

On an unrelated note, Nota-Masse said contract talks are ongoing with the Cranston Teachers Alliance. The union’s contract expired in August of this year.

“We meet weekly, so we’re making some good progress … It’s amicable and we’re working and talking,” she said.