LETTER: SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS WILLIAM REARICK

To All Tiverton Taxpayers,

I would like to take this opportunity to review the Tiverton School Department’s process that it followed in developing its 2011-12 budget which will be voted on at the upcoming Financial Town Meeting. The Tiverton School Department operates under the Laws of the State of Rhode Island and under the rules of the State Board of Regents and with direction provided by the Rhode Island Department of Education. The budget building process begins each year in the late fall, with an initial budget proposal being submitted to the Tiverton School Committee for review in early January. During the budget building process I received requests from my building principals, which identify educational priorities which after careful deliberation were then incorporated into the preliminary budget proposal.

The initial draft of the 2011-12 budget proposal of $27,179,940 was submitted to the School Committee on January 5, 2011. Under state law municipalities and school department’s budgets can only increase by 4.25%. This year’s budget projects a level funded amount in state aid. While the initial budget proposal was below the State mandated spending cap, the Tiverton School Committee asked me to reexamine the budget proposal to see if additional reductions could be made to the budget without reducing the current level of programming. Based on this criteria, I resubmitted a revised budget proposal to the School Committee which contained the following staffing reductions.

Full-time special education teacher (elementary)
Full-time special education teacher assistant (elementary)

The elimination of these positions combined with savings the School Department realized as a result of receiving a very favorable rate from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the retirement of three teachers, along with reductions to the capital account allowed the School Committee to approve a final budget of $26,936,506 of which $57,204 will pay for capital items, equates to a 2.6% percent increase in spending from the previous year’s budget. I would like to point out that the School Committee held five public meetings before it finalized its 2011-12 budget.

If the School Department’s 2011-12 budget is approved it will result in the current level of programming being maintained for all its students. If the School Department’s 2011-12 budget is not approved, advanced placement courses, athletics and music could be adversely affected. Class size at every grade level would likely increase from current levels.

I want to make voters aware that the Tiverton Budget Committee supports the School Department’s 2011-12 budget request and will be recommending this amount at the Financial Town Meeting which will be held on Saturday May 14, 2011 at 9 a.m. in the high school gymnasium. All registered voters are eligible to participate in the Financial Town Meeting. More detailed information regarding the School Department’s 2011-12 budget proposal can be found on the School Department’s web site, tivertonschools.org.

On behalf of the Tiverton School Committee, we urge all voters to attend the Financial Town Meeting to have your voices heard.

Sincerely,

William J. Rearick
Tiverton Superintendent of Schools