Barrington school officials were still reeling on Wednesday morning, April 26, just hours after the committee on appropriations recommended no increase to the proposed school budget.

School officials had already made a series of cuts to their proposed increase, but appropriations members took the cuts one big step further.

At its meeting on Tuesday night, the committee of five called for the elimination of the $1.2 million requested increase.

School officials earlier eliminated $380,000 from budget request.

Barrington Schools Superintendent Michael Messore said he was shocked by the move.

"It's devastating to the schools," said Mr. Messore, "and it's going to impact programs and staffing."

The superintendent said it was too early to say how the elimination of the $1.2 million requested budget increase was specifically going to impact the school department. But he did say that it could effect class sizes throughout the district.

Ron Tarro, the district's director of administration and finance, said officials had already made a series of difficult cuts to the school budget earlier this month. The earlier cuts totaled more than $350,000 and included everything from supplies and materials to a reduction in benefits costs for school department employees.

"It was already a level services budget," said Mr. Tarro. "These were some very difficult decisions we had to make."

Mr. Messore and Mr. Tarro said they were planning to send an email to parents of local schoolchildren, announcing the elimination of the $1.2 million increase request. They also planned to share the information at Thursday night's school committee meeting.

"I think the budget we presented was fiscally responsible," said Mr. Tarro, adding that the budget aligned to the district's goals and responsibilities. 

"We don't pad the budget."

When asked how this move by the committee on appropriations stacked up with prior year's recommendations, Mr. Tarro said "This would be by far the most dramatic."

Just two weeks ago, the school department announced a reduction to the proposed budget. Officials trimmed about $380,000 out of the proposed increase. The overall operating budget was set to increase to $49,168,846 — a $1.2 million increase over the current budget.

The reductions included $80,000 less for salaries (adjusted for retiring teachers); $66,000 for a reduction in benefits costs; $43,900 reduction for professional education services; and a $41,000 reduction for deferring maintenance to HVAC and plumbing services. 

Mr. Messore said he was anticipating some further cuts at Tuesday night's appropriations meeting, but nothing near the $1.2 million shift. The committee voted 4-1, with Richard Staples, Jr. voting against the motion.

"I was shocked last night," he said. 

A call to the chairman of the committee on appropriations, Geoff Grove, had not yet been returned when this article was published.