On Wednesday, March 16, during an even shorter meeting than the one that preceded it earlier this month, the Bristol Warren Regional School District’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) unanimously approved, 9-0, the $56,950,024 million FY23 school budget requested by Superintendent Ana Riley. The committee asked for no amendments to the budget, and passed it as presented.

“What we're presented with here, I'm completely impressed with,” said Warren Town Council President John Hanley. “It's very precise, it's detailed, and there's a saying — ‘Ask for something reasonable and you'll get a reasonable response.’”

The budget includes a request for the Town of Warren to increase its local contribution by about $510,000, representing a 3.8 percent increase in funding from last year. The Town of Bristol was also asked for about $510,000 more in its contribution, which amounts to an approximately 1.8 percent increase over last year. In total, Warren’s local aid would amount to $13,780,322 and Bristol would contribute $28,762,643. Bristol Warren will receive about $14.4 million in non-local aid.

The student population, as recorded in the budget, amounts to 1,075 students from Warren (37.62 percent), and 1,783 from Bristol (62.38 percent), for a total student population in the district of 2,858.

Additions and substractions
As presented previously in the budget, the district plans to add a special education coordinator, a K-8 math coordinator, as well as four additional full-time special education teachers who will be assigned based off IEP needs at various schools, as well as four achievement coaches that will provide instructional support staff for educators to better identify and address challenges that kids are facing.

Additionally, the budget includes funding to open a full-time Pre-K program at Colt Andrews Elementary School in Bristol to complement the existing Pre-K program at Hugh Cole Elementary in Warren.

The flip side to the additions made by Superintendent Riley is the necessity to reduce around 10 full-time staffing positions, however it will remain to be seen how many cuts will be necessary until the district is made aware of pending retirements.

“We know, through reaching out to you, the hard work you’ve put into this and can see that you're making some hard decisions, too,” said Bristol Town Councilman Nathan Calouro. “And although that is a challenge...I support what you have put in front of us.”

All members of the JFC agreed that they were pleased to see a collaborative, transparent effort in putting the budget together — a contrast to meetings and budgets presented in recent years amidst a flux period of shifting superintendents and intermittent stories of controversy coming out of the school system.

“It’s nice to see that, as [John] Healy pointed out, there's not all this contention going on right now...It's always one of these meetings where we’re happy to hear what everyone has to say but, it’s always been a big battle,” said Bristol Town Council Vice President Mary Parella. “It’s really refreshing. I wish you the best, the school department and the school committee. Just from reading in the paper, it’s been a little rocky this year, but now it looks like there’s a good administrative team in place and I’m glad that’s going on. So best of luck to all of you. I think this is a great starting point for us going forward.”