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MY TURN - School Board's Hands Are Tied By Costly Mandates

Posted on: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

We are damned if we do and damned if we don't. The reality is that the Pawtucket School Department's budget dispute with City Hall has us between the proverbial rock and a hard place. State law requires that we bring our budget into balance, but it also requires that we provide more mandatory programs than our current financing allows. We have trimmed all the fat and much of the meat, and to this point our students have been denied the funds needed to receive even the legal minimum in educational services.

Our options at this point are extremely limited. If we don't receive $2.9 million in additional funds, state law requires us to cut $2.9 million from mandatory programs. These cuts will leave us open to lawsuits from students and parents for failing to meet their basic educational needs. Ironically, if we cut required programs the state could then withhold aid, leaving us in an even more precarious position.

I want to assure the citizens of Pawtucket that the School Department's budget has been closely scrutinized, line by line, by members of the School Department, the School Committee, and an independent consultant. The only items left in the budget at this point are those mandated by federal law, state law, or existing contracts and regulations.

Proposed reductions in financing for sports programs have garnered considerable attention in the past few days. I understand and sympathize with the concerns expressed by parents and students, but there is nowhere else to turn without additional funds. Sports financing is entirely non-mandated, and we were required by law to eliminate all non-mandated programs in order to reach a deficit of zero. The committee made non-specific cuts in a number of general areas to come into compliance with the law. We are following steps in a process to ensure that this cut on paper never becomes a reality.

I am aware that the City Council does not have access to unlimited resources, but does that imply that we do? Out of the federal, state, city, and School Committee government structures, we are the only entity that is entirely dependent on revenue from the others. For 12 years, Pawtucket's taxes have continued to rise. These increased revenues have rarely been directed toward helping the city's children. At the recent city budget hearings the message from the City Council was that "it was not their responsibility to finance the School Department."

Where does it leave us when federal, state, and city governments collectively wash their hands of the responsibility of paying for the programs that they mandate? Once again, this leaves us between a rock and a hard place. Put simply, even if all of our expenses from last year remained unchanged except for energy costs, current financing levels would place us $400,000 to $600,000 in deficit. Since we do not generate revenue of our own, where could we be expected to find those resources? They tell us we can find the money to pay our bills because it is in there "somewhere." But it is not here. It must come from elsewhere.

We run the Pawtucket school district with administrative staffing that is nearly 40 percent below the state average. This year we have intentionally not refilled a number of central office positions including the assistant superintendent position. Our current central administrators are being inundated with new responsibilities. Should we start eliminating principals next? Of the nearly 10,000 students in our school system, many are disadvantaged and require special- education services. Should we simply not serve those of our children who require extra help? We have consistently ranked at the bottom of per-pupil spending in the state, and our scores are going up. We have learned to do more with less, but we can only do so much.

For someone to suggest that our School Department leaders' salaries are unreasonably high is unfair, uninformed and entirely misleading. Pawtucket's salaries are at the low end of the scale in comparison with other school districts. Finding qualified leaders to effectively guide an urban school district with perennially limited financing is a difficult prospect. Our salary structure is extremely reasonable.

The reduction in teacher assistants, decried by some as targeting those who have the least influence, reflects the School Committee's need to eliminate everything in our budget not expressly required by law. Those teacher assistants whose positions are mandated by law, such as in an Individualized Education Plan, have been retained. Leaving non-mandated positions intact would merely delay the inevitable: a judge somewhere down the line will tell us to cut them anyway. We are bound by law in all of these areas. So what should we have done? Break the law, cut teachers (instead of teacher assistants), and leave only a non-certified teacher assistant in the room just so the pain can be "shared," as some have suggested? Of course not! The laws, as well as the dictates of common sense, demand that there be a certified teacher in the room to teach our students.

Contrary to what some have alleged, the School Department's lease of the former Registry building will actually save taxpayers $22 million over 27 years and $137,000 in the first year alone if the city would allow the building to be bonded through the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation (RIHEBC) by January. We will save this amount through the consolidation of current lease expenses throughout the city and a 74-percent reimbursement available from the state. The Rhode Island Department of Education considers this project to be financially and academically sound.

The city has long been aware of our needs and plans to acquire the Registry building and the process is being held up. We have acted in good faith every step of the way, and we have been rebuffed by city officials who seem determined to delay our efforts to keep costs down while serving the students of our city. The School Committee has every right to enter into a lease that will save the taxpayers money. I think it is foolhardy not to pass this savings along to the taxpayers as quickly as possible. Sale of the current administration building by the city would also generate much needed revenue. The decision by city officials to politicize this issue is a disappointment.

The School Committee's hands are tied and our options are limited. Our hands are tied by mandates that carry the force of law. Our options are limited by a revenue stream that we do not control. School committees exist in our democracy because citizens desire local control over their children's educational experience. What cannot be lost in this argument is the cost to our children of continued inaction. The School Committee will continue to live up to the obligation and moral responsibility to provide our children with an education that is worthy of them. We will continue to allocate our resources judiciously, maximize grant opportunities, and maintain a tight approval system for all new spending. Our hope is that together with concerned citizens we can petition our local, state and national leaders to support the opportunities our children deserve. Though this current crisis demands an immediate resolution, we must also address in a permanent way the lack of an equitable and adequate financing system for all of our children's educational needs.

The School Committee's priorities are to provide an environment that fosters the success of every student in the city of Pawtucket as it also ensures that limited tax dollars are maximized toward that end. I submit that the School Department has done its duty in these areas.

Alan J. Tenreiro

Pawtucket

Editor's note: Alan J. Tenreiro is chairman of the Pawtucket School Committee.

Source: Providence Journal

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