The most recent school budget cycle was one of the most painful in recent memory, with Bristol Warren Regional School Committee members on Monday voting to lay off nearly 25 full time employees and slash educational programs to trim a $2.3 million deficit. Now, local lawmakers and Warren's town administrator are advocating for state-level changes they believe are imperative to help keep future school deficits at bay, and prevent what has become a yearly issue — struggling to come up with a balanced school budget while state aid drops.

Sen. Walter Felag has introduced legislation that would restore a yearly regionalization bonus. And on Wednesday, Warren Town Manager Kate Michaud gave written testimony on a House of Representatives bill that would reconfigure how the state reimburses districts based on their enrollment and the number of students who receive free and reduced lunches.

While the bill is not a cure-all, it is a start, she said:

"It wouldn't fix everything, but it would certainly help."

Introduced by Rep. Bill McNamara of Warwick and Cranston, House Bill 5273 would base state reimbursements per student, and for those receiving free and reduced lunches, on the average number of students over the previous three school years and not just on the previous year, as is currently done. Ms. Michaud said the bill would "smooth" and help to insulate districts from year-to-year fluctuations in both categories.

While it would not address many other issues with the state's education funding formula, she wrote in testimony delivered Wednesday, May 19, that it "would restore some stability into the education funding formula in a year of turbulence and uncertainty."

Due to declining enrollment, fewer parents signing their children up for free and reduced lunches this past year and other factors, Warren received about $771,000 less this year than it did during the 2019-20 school year, she said.

"If the factors that went into it had stayed the same, then we would have at least been holding steady," she said. She said she can imagine what will happen if funding formula isn't reconfigured: Compared to the 2019-20 year, she said, enrollment is expected to drop this coming year by 23 students in Warren alone. At the same time, the number of students signed up for free and reduced lunches is expected to drop by 63.

As the house bill figures in to wider discussions on the state's overall budget, its status is listed as being held for further review.

Regionalization bonus

Concurrently, Sen. Felag has submitted legislation that would give the state's handful of regional districts a new regionalization bonus.

When Bristol and Warren regionalized 30 years ago, "we were getting a very good chunk of money" as an incentive from the state, he said. "Then all of a sudden 10 years ago (the state) came up with this new funding formula taking away that regionalization bonus."

Phased out over 10 years, the yearly reduction in the state regionalization bonus is now gone. Out of fairness and equity, he believes one should be reinstated

Sen. Felag has submitted the same legislation over the past several years, but it has never made it out of the Senate. He believes it's time to take another look, and added that if passed into law, Bristol Warren would receive a bonus equal to 2 percent of the state aid it receives each year — currently, about $225,000. Statewide, the impact would be about $665,000.

Sen. Felag said he is realistic about the bill's chances. But it, and other parts of the state's education aid funding formula, need to be heard at the legislative level, he said. He is also concerned about a drop in student transportation aid and enrollment reimbursement this coming year.

"There's no easy answers when you have decreasing enrollment," he said. "But it's imperative to talk about it."