Nearly $4M cut from proposed school budget
Some of it is to offset $3.2M in added costs of teaching English language learners
PROVIDENCE — The Providence School Department's proposed budget for the coming year calls for several substantial cuts, including nearly $2 million in staff reductions, to make up a shortfall of $6.4 million.
The budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 represents an increase of $7.2 million, or 1.8% over this year's figure. It goes before the School Board's finance committee Wednesday night.
Most of the increase in the $396-million budget comes from fixed costs, including $4.2 million to meet the new teachers' contract and $3.2 million to meet the settlement with the U.S. Justice Department. After the department found fault with the district's programs last year, Providence agreed to make a number of wide-ranging reforms to better meet the needs of its English learners.
Most of the $3.2 million will go toward hiring 40 more teachers who are certified to teach English as a Second Language. Superintendent Christopher N. Maher acknowledged that that there is a statewide shortage of qualified instructors but said the district is trying to "grow its own" through a partnership with Roger Williams University that fast-tracks the training.
Gov. Gina Raimondo has asked lawmakers to provide $5 million more for English learners statewide, of which $1.3 million in additional funds is earmarked for Providence.
But Maher on Monday called that figure "a drop in the bucket" of what the district needs.
The school department has identified several cuts toward balancing the budget:
$1.4 million by moving from a "block" schedule (longer class periods) at several high schools to a traditional schedule of shorter classes. Fourteen teaching positions would be eliminated; Maher said those teachers would be transferred to other schools.
$600,000 by cutting six teaching positions in elementary schools. Again, Maher said teachers would not be laid off but rather would fill positions currently held by long-term substitutes. In some cases, teachers with the right certification could teach at the middle school level.
$1.9 million in staff reductions. The majority of these cuts, Maher said, would come from through attrition or by not filling vacancies. The district won't have firm numbers on the number of retirements and other vacancies until late this month.
Meanwhile, enrollments are steadily increasing while fixed costs — salaries, medical insurance and pension contributions — keep rising.
If the district is to jump-start student achievement, Maher said, the state must change the school funding formula, which he said has chronically underfunded English language learners.
"We can't say we have an equitable funding formula," he said, "until we see a significant increase in resources for our fastest-growing population of students."
— lborg@providencejournal.com
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