Schools Seek 9.4-Percent Budget Increase

By GINA MACRIS Journal Staff Writer

Rising labor and fuel costs have prompted the more than $2 million hike over last year’s spending plan.

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TIVERTON – Rising labor costs and spiking fuel prices have prompted the School Committee to seek a 9.4-percent increase over last year’s spending plan, according to district officials.

Schools Supt. William Rearick and Robin Reasor, the district’s director of administration and finance, said this year’s budget request is $23,792,357 — a total of $2,054,214 more in expenses. The budget is now under consideration by the town Budget Committee, which will ultimately make recommendations to voters at the Financial Town Meeting in May.

In addition to the cost of fuel, Rearick said, health-insurance premiums and contributions to the state retirement system both are going up. Meanwhile, shifting enrollment will mean fewer positions in elementary and middle grades and an increase in the teaching staff at the high school.

Moreover, Rearick wants a building and grounds supervisor, a position the budget committee cut last year, as well as a district- wide technology coordinator.

The net increase in costs resulting from all the proposed shifts would be $217,303 according to a budget summary prepared by Reasor.

Rearick and Reasor elaborated on the budget proposal in an interview last week, emphasizing that the town gets an exceptional value for its school dollar.

Tiverton’s per-pupil cost, at $10,796, ranks in the bottom third among the state’s school districts, but the high school has been recognized for two consecutive years as a Commended High School by the state Board of Regents, according to a budget summary complied by Rearick and Reasor.

Rearick said that pension-reform legislation enacted by the General Assembly last year appears to have given the school district only a “one-year reprieve” from walloping contributions to the teachers’ retirement system.

The district initially faced a $250,000 increase in this year’s contribution, but eventually, all but $22,000 of that amount was rolled back.

For next year’s budget, however, the projected increase is about $300,000, or 23 percent more than the $1,088,277 the district now pays to the teachers’ retirement system.

Health-insurance costs are expected to rise as much as 15 percent, although Reasor said the district has not yet received the “final numbers” from its insurer, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

To leverage its bargaining power, the School Department negotiates with Blue Cross as part of a consortium of school districts called the Governmental Health Group of Rhode Island, Reasor said.

Reasor said she is hopeful that the rate increase for Blue Cross may end up closer to 10 percent.

She said Tiverton works with a separate group, the East Bay Educational Collaborative, to purchase classroom and office supplies, custodial supplies, and fuel oil.

Even though eight member school districts solicit bids for fuel oil as a group, Reasor said she still projects a 40-percent increase in the cost of heat in the next budget.

The prices fluctuate so much that it is impossible to make accurate estimates, Rearick said.

Reasor said she budgeted heating oil at $1.50 a gallon for the current school year but the district has had to pay $1.85 a gallon. And the average on the open market is now $2.25 a gallon, Rearick said.

The only new academic position is a full-time literacy teacher for grades seven and eight, to meet state requirements that children reading significantly below grade level be given intensive support.

According to Rearick’s budget summary, projected declines in enrollment in the elementary and middle grades would mean the following reductions in staffing:

n One fourth-grade teaching position at the Pocasset Elementary School.

n One special education position at the middle school.

n One class period a day in the world language department, eight- grade math and eighth-grade science.

n The elimination of a maintenance technician’s job.

Besides the district technology coordinator, the building and grounds supervisor, and the new literacy position at the middle school, Rearick is recommending these additions to the staff:

n A full-time special education position at the high school, where 50 additional special-needs students are expected in the fall.

n A full-time science position at the high school.

n An addition of four classes a day in math and two classes a day in English.

n An increase of one class a day in music at the middle school.

With the teachers contract expiring at the end of August, a large portion of the salary account remains up in the air.

But the district recently negotiated a three-year pact with 45 full-time and 17 part-time paraprofessionals, clerical and maintenance employees, that calls for a 3-percent annual increase in wages.

The district and the teachers union, NEA Tiverton, recently exchanged contract proposals. Both Rearick and union president Amy Mullen have said they hope the contract can be settled by the end of the school year.

gmacris@projo.com / (401) 277-7455