East Providence School Committee holds first FY16-17 budget workshop

Sees draft about personnel, including proposed 2.5 salary increase

By Mike Rego
Posted 8/24/16

EAST PROVIDENCE — The school committee conducted the first of two scheduled workshops on its Fiscal Year 2016-17 budget Tuesday night, Aug. 23, the board hearing the figures specifically associated …

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East Providence School Committee holds first FY16-17 budget workshop

Sees draft about personnel, including proposed 2.5 salary increase

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The school committee conducted the first of two scheduled workshops on its Fiscal Year 2016-17 budget Tuesday night, Aug. 23, the board hearing the figures specifically associated with personnel only in the overall outlay of approximately $80 million.

Superintendent Kathryn Crowley led her first budget discussion since being hired late last fall. She repeatedly reminded the committee and the audience the night was a “workshop” and that the proposed budget was strictly a “draft.”

The superintendent told the committee roughly “93 to 94 percent” of the budget, draft or otherwise, must be earmarked towards compensation of personnel. With that in mind, Superintendent Crowley and School Finance Director Lucy Maddock recommended giving department employees an across the board 2.5 percent salary increase.

Under the current incarnation of the budget, the bulk of the increases would be paid for through an expected $1.6 million surplus carried over from FY15-16 as well as a portion of a $1.5 million increase in the aid package East Providence receives from the state.

“Lucy has worked diligently on this,” Superintendent Crowley said of Director Maddock’s efforts. “I thank her very much...She’s done an excellent job…She just did a wonderful job in this preparation.”

In addition, and with a continued eye towards retention of services, Superintendent Crowley and Director Maddock proposed giving teachers will full certification a $1,000 raise and to those not yet certified a $500 raise. The flat increases and the 2.5 percent uptick would replace a 1 percent increase called for in the fifth and final year of the current contract with teachers.

“We want to attract good teachers and we want to keep good teachers,” the superintendent said, who added the increases would help East Providence teachers, among the lowest paid in the state, catch up slightly with their peers.

The raises would up the salary of fully tenured teachers, at the so-called “top step,” to just about $73,000 per year. According to Ward 3 Committee member Nate Cahoon, who consulted with union president Nick Shattuck sitting in the audience, “this would get us out of the bottom” in terms of comparable compensation to which Superintendent Crowley said, “which is what we want to do because this is a wonderful place to work and we have some wonderful teachers.”

At the request of Mr. Cahoon and At-Large Committee member Joel Monteiro the next the draft budget will include how much just the required 1 percent increase for teachers will cost in comparison with the 2.5 percent proposal.

State-appointed Municipal Finance Advisor Paul Luba, speaking at the behest of Committee Chairman Charlie Tsonos, raised three initial concerns while having admittedly not read the entire budget proposal. One, he questioned if it was “sustainable.” Second, he said this current fiscal year is the last the state is expected to give the city additional funding. And the third, he said was “it seems like a hefty raise without bargaining.”

Mr. Monteiro, while acknowledging Mr. Luba’s concerns and agreeing with his point on sustainability, said with the proposed raises the district was “trying to get to a point where we are marketable” and being at the bottom of the teacher pay scale has “absolutely been detrimental to the end result, which is the education of the children in the district.” He added, “We’re trying to get to a point where we can retain that talent and we’re not constantly turning over.”

After the meeting, the superintendent once again stressed her presentation Tuesday was just the first half of the budget. She said she expected Director Maddock and herself will be able to find additional monies in other aspects of the budget to account for all the funding needed to pay for the raises.

The next budget workshop, which will include a discussion on capital needs and special education components, is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 29, in the council chamber at City Hall.

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MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.