No vote has been taken, but it appears as though Cranston residents’ fears will be confirmed as the School Committee moves forward with a collection of cuts proposed in Superintendent Peter Nero’s budget for the 2010-2011 school year.

All of the cuts outlined in his proposal follow the audit report mandated by the courts during the schools’ suit against the city through the Caruolo Act. The report provides a blueprint for Cranston schools to get back to the Basic Education Plan (BEP) required by the state.

“Moving forward, to be fiscally responsible we need to get our house in order,” Nero said Monday evening at the second public budget work session in the past week.

The first, held at Cranston High School West last Wednesday, was well-attended as students lined the aisle to speak out about the effects of the budget on their programs, and in particular, sports and music.

Students rally to save school programs

“Eliminating sports should be the last option, if an option at all,” said Deanna Archetto, a student. “There have to be options that don’t include chopping from the bottom.”

The proposed budget would eliminate freshmen sports; the girls’ co-op hockey team; elementary strings, chorus and band programs and the enrichment program EPIC. The overall budget for music would see a $675,000 reduction by 2014, and sports would see its funding slashed by $130,000.

To avoid the latter resulting in terminating full programs, Cranston Athletic Director Mike Traficante has presented a proposal to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League to consolidate teams between East and West, excluding football, baseball, basketball, boys’ hockey and wrestling.

That item was the central topic of conversation last Wednesday.

“If kids are on sports teams they are less likely to get in trouble,” said Lauren English, who plays volleyball at West. She also said reducing the chance students have to play sports would increase obesity in the schools and hurt the students who want to improve their resume as they apply to colleges.

The audience at West seemed to feed off each others’ comments, with applause growing louder and more students joining the queue to speak. Taking a step back from questioning the committee, however, Caitlin Cannon said it was time to come together, not place blame.

“We may have made the mistake of painting you guys as the enemy. Maybe if we can make an effort together, we can make this happen,” said Cannon, an athlete at East.

One of the suggestions brought to the floor was having the programs fund themselves through the efforts of students and parents. Athletic Director Traficante said he admired the passion of the group, but questioned how to address the clear inequity between East and West. With more fundraising capability on the more affluent side of the city, how would that be fair for both schools, he asked.

When the option of “pay to play” was suggested, Traficante noted that in North Smithfield, where that system was implemented, they have collected only $13,000 to date of the $137,000 that is needed. If the remainder is not made up, the difference is left to the school district.

“I need the money in the kitty before tryouts,” Nero added.

Moreover, North Smithfield is currently in court with the ACLU to defend the constitutionality of charging students to participate in sports at a public school.

Traficante said the proposal is far from perfect, but he fears the alternative.

“I side with the athletes, but I’d rather see one team than no team at all,” he said.

When probed by girls’ hockey players why their team is on the chopping block alone, it was explained that the co-op team was granted a two-year waiver from the RIIL that has already run out.

If consolidation plans are approved, though, the team will be reinstated, and several female hockey players pointed out that the co-op works well and still feels like one team despite the geographic division of the players.

On the flip side, the rivalry between Cranston East and West was touched upon by many of the students who spoke, and was a factor both schools seemed to agree on.

“They are rich traditions our schools cannot afford to lose,” said Lindsay Burrows, the Student Council president at West.

She says athletics give students incentive to come to school and work hard, not to mention forms the basis of school spirit and participation in other events like pep rallies.

“Without a strong athletic program, the heart and soul of a school begins to wither away,” she said.

East student Lisa Phillips said the same could be said for music. The elementary school programs create the foundation for the high school band and choir.

“By cutting elementary music, that will affect our award winning marching band – the only competition band in Rhode Island,” she said, “so I believe the school should not settle for basic.”

School Committee member Janice Ruggieri said that with two children of her own who play instruments, cutting music is the last thing she wants to do.

“I lose too; we all lose. I don’t think any of us wants basic,” she said, resigning that the audit report must be followed.

The root of the problem

That, said Cranston resident Donald Botts, is the fault of the committee. He believes turning to Caruolo was a mistake, especially since the city offered to forgive $900,000 of debt in exchange for dropping the suit.

“They went ahead and rolled the dice and lost. If this were a private company, the storefront would be boarded up like Circuit City and Bed, Bath and Beyond,” he said Monday. “Now, instead of racing to the top, we are racing toward mediocrity.”

The committee’s argument is that the $900,000 had already been promised by former Mayor Michael Napolitano’s administration through the sale of the old police station. At the time, the sum had been set at $1.1 million, so School Committeeman Frank Lombardi said it did not make sense at the time to settle for less when it was money they felt was already due to them.

But as student after student approached the microphone, the overall response from the stage was a row of nodding heads. Through more than an hour of emotional testimony, Superintendent Nero continued to agree with the students.

“I testified that these are important programs; the courts disagree,” he said.

Cranston resident Rick Glucksman said the defeatist attitude of the committee is disheartening for parents like him who are preparing to put their children into the school system. He said the work sessions felt different from last year, when both the audience and the committee seemed fired up about the potential cuts.

“At least those felt like a fight; this feels like we’re at a funeral,” he said. “You’re going to get parents saying, ‘why am I staying in Cranston if all I’m getting is basic education?’”

A mounting debt

The schools currently owe the city $8.4 million. Add to that the $1 million deficit from this year and that’s more than $9 million in the red. In the event that the proposed budget of close to $125 million is level funded by the city from last year, they stand to add another $3.5 million to that tab.

Chairman Michael Traficante urged those at the meeting to contact the mayor and the City Council to stress the importance of what he feels is a fair sum.

“You’ve got to make them know that the schools can’t survive another year of level funding,” he said.

As the committee took criticism from the audience, members pointed out that tax increases in Cranston have not resulted in increased funding to schools.

“This committee has done everything humanly possible and we’ve been criticized for it by a court of law; you’re talking to the wrong body,” Chairman Traficante said.

That area of contention spilled over to this Monday’s meeting, with Councilman Robert Pelletier (Ward-4) urging the committee to return to the table to renegotiate a teachers’ contract. The current contract, ratified last fall, realized $2 million in concessions but included raises. Pelletier said the amount was not significant enough given the state and city’s current economic climate.

“We provided real savings to the district in the last contract we settled,” countered Cranston Teachers Alliance President Frank Flynn.

The teachers this year agreed to pay 15 percent into their health care, with approximately 3 percent more in design changes of their health care plan built in for the future.

The committee has sent letters to all of the unions to seek out additional concessions. In terms of big savings, though, School Committee member Steve Stycos said funding from the city has been the lethal blow to the schools.

“Budgets are about priorities,” he said, pointing out that in the years following former Mayor Steve Laffey’s administration, the fire budget has gone up by 12 percent, the police by 11 percent, and the city as a whole without factoring in schools by 8.5 percent.

The school budget has increased 0.5 percent.

“I think the priorities are out of balance,” Stycos said.

The consensus of the committee is that in several years, if the deficit is brought down, they can consider reinstating some programs. Until then, they must follow the audit report and hope the RIIL approves their request. They must submit a final budget by March 1 to Mayor Allan Fung, who must in turn present a budget to the City Council by April 1. The Cranston budget for 2010-2011 must then be approved by May 15.

As those deadlines approach, Lombardi said everyone is backed into a corner and must start to repair the relationship between the city and schools if they want to move in the right direction.

“For some reason, in the last three years, we’ve lost sight of what we are and what we are is a community,” he said.