Tiverton school officials say they may have to close the Fort Barton School, or lay off staff members and teachers at every grade level, if they can’t balance a proposed 2024-25 budget pushed to the brink by a structural deficit, rising costs and a large reduction in state education aid this year.

The unexpected news drew dozens of angry parents to Tuesday night’s school committee meeting, and superintentent Peter Sanchioni acknowledged that the district’s financial issues call for hard choices:

“I want to make the point that this is a K-12 haircut that just hurts everywhere,” he said.

Two scenarios, neither good

The school department is proposing a 2024-25 budget of $39.1 million, up nearly 10 percent from the current year. Sanchioni said significantly higher costs in many areas, including special education, insurance premiums and benefits and transportation, among others, aren’t the only issues stressing the budget. In addition, the district is dealing with a structural deficit, and the governor’s budget calls for a $1.2 million reduction in state education aid next year – a 17 percent cut, the highest in the state.

Even with potential savings elsewhere, including renegotiating union contracts to reduce already agreed-upon salary increases, cutting administrative raises and reducing general expenses, the district will still be short, Sanchioni said. That is why the Fort Barton and layoffs proposals are on the table, he said.

The first option, which Sanchioni said would “devastate the district,” calls for personnel cuts at every grade level and at every school. Specialists who offer students support in math, reading and special education, as well as guidance counselor positions, would be eliminated. 

The second option — closing Fort Barton School — would also save $3 million but would preserve as many as 12 staff positions, including school specialist and guidance counselor positions district-wide.

“It’s preserving services. Our kids would come to school and receive the same services they are receiving this year, just in different buildings.”

Audience not happy

Parents were not pleased and some, including Jordyn Riley, expressed disbelief that Fort Barton, which has received accolades at the state and national level for academic excellence, may be on the chopping block.

“I have three kids at Fort Barton,” she said. “We chose to stay here as opposed to (moving) to Portsmouth because of this school system. You take this away, you’ve taken away the draw for Tiverton.”

Shannon McNamara, a Ranger Elementary School parent, said her family also chose Tiverton because of the school system. She spoke of the challenges of ever-increasing taxes and property values and the state’s decision to cut education aid.

“We are valued so high as a town, that they [the state] don’t think they need to help us. So I’m in essence going to pay way more on my property taxes this year to get far less services for my two children, which is the reason I moved here. So why did I move here?”

Diane Conway said after the meeting that she couldn’t imagine her son, a first grader at Fort Barton, attending a different school next year. Currently, his after-school bus ride takes up to an hour, which means he gets home each day at about 4:20 p.m. She believes one of numerous problems the family would face if he were to attend a different school would be an even longer commute.

Bonds aren’t paid off yet

Parents and some town officials leveled criticism at school leaders for not notifying the community in advance that the topic would be part of the evening’s budget discussion. But Sanchioni said there would be multiple opportunities for discussion before any final decisions are made.

“We wanted to talk to the staff who were impacted by this and the school committee wanted to see it first,” he said.

Parents were not the only ones troubled by the lack of advance notice. Town administrator Chris Cotta, who attended the meeting with several scowling town council members, slammed school leaders for not scheduling a “full-throated” public hearing on the matter. By not doing so, he said, they were possibly violating Open Meeting laws. He then outlined a host of problems that could result from the school’s closure:

“The people in this town voted to fund three brand new schools. The bonds are still valid. If you decide you are going to walk away from a school, we still have to pay the bonds. As a matter of fact, the bonds might be callable and reissued under higher interest rates.”

Cotta said afterwards that the town owes $3.2 million on the Fort Barton bonds, which do not expire until 2028.

“Taxpayers authorized the bonds with the understanding the state would reimburse 35 percent annually until the bonds expire. This decision, if it happens, will cause a financial loss.”

What’s next?

School committee members emphasized that the public will have plenty of opportunity to weigh in, and a community forum is planned for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the high school. The next school committee meeting at 7 p.m. the following Tuesday, March 26.

Additionally, the town council has scheduled a meeting on April 1 that will include school committee members, state legislators, and RIDE officials for an in-depth review of the projected reduction in Tiverton’s state education aid.