EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence School Department needs to count its pennies as the end of current fiscal year approaches and the mandated need for it not to run a deficit becomes a real factor.

District Director of Finance Craig Enos told the School Committee at its September 12 meeting the administration will need to be "cautious with spending over the next couple of weeks" as the conclusion of FY2022-23 approaches on October 31.

Enos said, the current budget "has been impacted" by an increase the general population enrollment, an uptick in Special Needs students and eight, new out-of-district placements as well as the numerous "plumbing and heating issues we've been fixing all of the last year."

With that in mind, the director said the administration, led by Superintendent Dr. Sandra Forand, has implemented a freeze on expenditures, including new hires if possible, "except for emergency medical supplies."

As an example of where the unexpected funding gaps have arose, Enos said the district needed to use more outside speech therapists, a line item budgeted for $250,000, but one that has already used some $435,000. Likewise, the new out-of-district placements have used up $120,000 for just the three months at the start of the current term from August to October.

Forand highlighted the increases in enrollment throughout the district, but specifically at the still nascent high school, which only beginning its third term in service seems to be becoming the lure most envisioned it would be when it was built.

The superintendent said EPHS enrollment as of the night of the meeting had reached 1,720, up from the 1,636 just this past May. Because of this, the district had to hire an additional teacher for each of the Science, Special Education and International Language (Spanish) departments. It's likely those numbers will level off, she added, but it's not something the administration can bank on at the moment.

Forand noted when conceived with the input of the Rhode Island Department of Education, the high school was considered to be at 85 percent of its capacity with 1,600 students. So "it's high," she continued on the numbers at EPHS, "the high school (enrollment) is high."

From a financial perspective, both administrators are anticipating East Providence will regain an ample amount of assistance from the General Assembly beginning in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Forand said the district should see a significant increase in state aid due the enrollment figures  after worries it would drop precipitously with changes made to the funding formula and the district actually losing students in years past.

Forand reiterated East Providence is one of only five districts in the state that have seen enrollment grow and that trend is thought to be continuing for at least the next few years.

Asked if the increased enrollment could impact plans for the renovation of Martin Middle School, Forand said there is time to make changes or seek additional reimbursement from the state.

Part of the process includes conducting a demographic study, which is ongoing. Forand said the expectation is to have preliminary figures by the end of September and the completed report on the study by the end of October. At the moment, Forand said projections for enrollment at MMS are considered to drop from the current 600 to 475, though the administration is admittedly a bit skeptical about those figures.