As uncertainty continues to surround the Cranston Public Schools budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, the School Committee on Monday unanimously backed a resolution asking the City Council to provide at least $3.2 million in additional funding to cover the cost of contractual raises and step increases.

“Cranston families have planned their finances around these step increases and raises,” Ward 5 committee member David Alden Sears said, calling on the council to “amend their budget and uphold their end of the bargain.”

“I realize that $3.2 million is a large figure – a figure that should not be thrown around carelessly,” Daniel Wall, the committee’s Ward 6 representative and chairman, said while reading a letter that appears in full in this week’s edition. “However, we made a promise when we ratified these contracts, and I believe that we have a moral obligation to keep that promise.”

The district is moving toward the start of the new fiscal year facing a significant financial shortfall. The roughly $300 million city budget recently approved by the City Council and signed by Mayor Allan Fung includes an increase of roughly $470,000 in the city’s contribution to the district – a figure well short of the roughly $1.7 million the district had requested.

The district’s initial budget plan totaled $169.2 million, while Fung’s proposal for the schools totaled $168 million.

Additionally, the council moved to amend the budget to effectively exclude a projected $4.1 million increase in state education aid from the picture for the time being.

That aid increase was based on pre-pandemic figures from the state, and it remains unclear whether all – or any – of the funding will ultimately materialize. City leaders feared that approving a budget with the state aid included would leave Cranston responsible for providing the full figure in the event the state does not provide the money. The hope has been that the budget can be amended to provide relief to the district when the state aid picture becomes clearer.

Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse on Monday said the district has had “preliminary conversations with the representatives from our bargaining units about our budget troubles,” although she said no specific concessions – such as forgoing raises and step increases – have yet been requested.

“Until we know exactly how much money we are, or aren’t, getting from the state, we cannot ask for anything specific,” she said.

Nota-Masse said she is hopeful the General Assembly might take action to provide additional time for municipal and school budgets to be developed and approved. Otherwise, the district must have a balanced budget in place by June 30 under the terms of the city’s charter – a timeline that would require steep cuts to meet a combined shortfall of approximately $5.3 million.

During a School Committee meeting earlier this month, Nota-Masse outlined approximately $1.16 million in potential cuts based on an early review by the administration. Those cuts do not include any layoffs or furloughs.