The Cranston School Committee extended its thanks to the City Council for its efforts in appropriating an additional $570,000 towards the school department’s budget for fiscal year 2023 as well as Mayor Hopkins for his decision not to veto the decision.

“It’s quite a procedure, and we’re very happy that the mayor did not exercise his veto power and he supported the $570,000,” said School Committee Chair Michael Traficante. “Of course, now it’s our job as the school committee to scrutinize our own budget and balance it.”

School Committee member Domenic Fusco Jr. said that while there is a chance that more money will come from the Rhode Island Department of Education, RIDE, than is predicted, it is still the responsibility of the committee to ensure the budget is balanced at its current level of funding.

“For the past two years the mayor has been extremely supportive of education,” Traficante said. “Going back two years he gave us $1.5 million in the first year and the one after he gave us a million. That’s a strong contribution towards education. In the current budget he level funded us and the school committee then requested an additional $2.4 million.”

Traficante said that the school department has lost, in state revenue alone, close to $900,000. The reason, he said, is because the city has become wealthier. However, in terms of expenditures for the department, costs are going up from last year. Certified pensions alone, which are state controlled, have increased from 17.94% in the 2022 fiscal year to 18.53% this year. This accounts for a guaranteed expenditure increase of just over $500,000.

Additional increases to costs for the school department come from line items such as charter schools, pathway programs, special education programs and even the cost of oil to heat the facilities.

“Just looking at the electricity we can see that it’ll cost us an extra $400,000,” Traficante explained. “If you add it up it’ll come to about $2.9 million, but we generated funds too. If you look at Medicaid reimbursement we generated about $250,000 and another plus about $500,000 from CTE programs, and when we subtract the two that’s why we asked for the $2.4 million.”

Traficante said that the committee is extremely happy with efforts to find schools as much additional funds as possible. He said that in doing their due diligence and scrutinizing the budget, the City Council showed just how dedicated they are to supporting the school system.

In order to appropriate more funds for the school department the City Council scrutinized the budget line by line looking for chances to move funds from departments that could do their work with less.

“What I like is that they did their due diligence on the back end,” said Fusco Jr. “They went and talked to those departments. They were asked, ‘if we take this away would you be able to survive?’ I’m sure those departments weren’t thrilled, but they were at least asked.”

Balancing the budget while they wait to hear the state’s official budget in July is the school department’s next step.

“Next step will be to have Mr. Balducci, the finance director for the school department, to go through the budget line by line to see what we can afford,” Traficante explained. “He’ll go through the budget line by line and see where we can afford to take bits and pieces out of each line item and make up for the $2 million. Everything is up for grabs, so to speak.”

Trafficante said that the first place cuts will have to be made is to personnel, and that 85% of the department's budget pays for employees. The question of where the department can afford to do without individuals, he said, and where they can put some of the positions are the first questions they have to answer. Traficante said they of course hope to be able to find grants or redistribute Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds, in order to support those salaries rather than eliminate the positions.

“Technically we could get more,” Fusco Jr. said. “The General Assembly doesn’t finalize their budget right up until the end. We don’t know what the full amount from them will actually end up being. We’re using an estimate.”

When asked if there was a chance Cranston would receive less in funds than the estimate they’re working, Fusco Jr. said that he doesn’t think so.

“They’re pretty good,” Fusco Jr explained. “Once they give you a number, they’re really good at keeping it. But, also, another thing to remember is that the school department starts putting together this budget in November. The superintendent presents it to us at the end of January. We scrutinize it and have to present it to the mayor by March 1. So, there is still a gap of time left in which things could change.”

An example, he said, was a recent renegotiation with the provider of solar energy in which it was found they were not giving the school department the proper credits because they were moving the farm due to Amazon. Upon fixing the issue the department was able to add “a few extra bucks from that.”

While they continue to await the final word on the state’s budget, the school committee will do its best to find whatever funds it can to provide the best education available to the children of Cranston while preparing a balanced budget.

“The real message is that we’re thankful,” Traficante said. “The City Council didn’t have to try so hard to find us those funds, but they did. The Mayor could have chosen to veto it, but he didn’t. Now it’s our turn to do our part.”