By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

NORTH SMITHFIELD —School Superintendent Stephen F. Lindberg Tuesday painted a bleak picture at a public forum to discuss the proposed fiscal 2009 school budget, saying school officials still need to cover a projected $200,000 budget shortfall in addition to the more than $1 million in cuts that have already been proposed in the spending plan.

Lindberg and the administration are planning to make recommendations to the School Committee in April on how to meet that deficit. When a parent at the forum asked Lindberg whether one of those recommendations is to cut full-day kindergarten to half-day, the superintendent declined to answer, saying it would be “unethical” to discuss the recommendations prior to meeting with the School Committee.
Lindberg did make an ominous statement, saying the administration — in finding ways to cover the $200,000 shortfall — is looking at areas that have never been looked at before in previous budget deliberations.
“Unfortunately, there isn't much else we can do,” he said. “We don't have many choices left.”
About 50 residents attended the forum, which was billed as an opportunity to present “accurate information” concerning the proposed fiscal 2009 school budget, the proposed fiscal 2009 budget for the new Middle School and the implications of the state S3050 tax levy cap on those two spending plans.
“We want to provide the best information that we have at this point in time as well as to be pro-active and diffuse any misinformation,” Lindberg said.
The forum is being held several weeks after school officials and members of the Town Council clashed over the School Department's request to ask the state to override S3050 to cover a projected $821,141 school budget shortfall, which has been blamed on higher-than-anticipated fixed operating costs associated with the new $30 million middle school.
School officials say the override is needed to increase the town's contribution to the schools and stave off school program cuts, including cuts to block scheduling. However, the council in a unanimous vote last month decided to support Town Administrator Robert B. Lowe's recommendation to seek an override for $474,000, a figure that would have less impact on taxpayers already feeling the pain from high residential taxes. It's also the figure for fixed operating costs that voters were given when they went to the polls in 2006 to approve the middle school bond.
S3050, a bill signed into law last summer, limits the annual increase on a town or city's tax levy to 5.25 percent for fiscal year 2007-2008. A tax levy is the amount of money a town raises through the property tax to cover the school district's budget and the town budget. The town's $30 million middle school project was approved before S3050. Fixed operating costs for the new school have risen dramatically due to a variety of reasons, including fuel costs, health insurance and other factors. As a result, the school district is facing a deficit and is seeking an override from the state to help cover it.
An override for the $821,141 as requested by the schools would have seen a tax bill increase of $530 on a home valued at $300,000. An override of the $474,000 amount as approved by the council would see a tax bill increase of about $474,000.
The council defended their position, saying the difference between the $474,000 amount “sold” to voters at the polls and the $821,141 now sought by the district is $347,141 — an increase of 73 percent.
Three weeks ago, the School Committee voted to formally approve a list of layoff notices that have been sent out to 73 teachers in the North Smithfield School District. The district's preliminary $20.5 million school budget for fiscal 2009, as well as an $821,000 operating budget for the new middle school, were also given approval by the committee. To make the budget work, the school administration has mailed out pink slips to 73 teachers — about 42 percent of the district's 173-member teaching staff. By state law, school districts must mail out the notices by March 1 to let teachers know they could be laid off in June if the district is unable to fund their salaries due to budget constraints.
The fiscal 2009 North Smithfield school budget as approved by the committee reflects more than $1million in staffing cuts, including two special education teaching positions, a teachers assistant and a substitute teacher, among others.
“These are the reductions based on the status quo without taking into consideration the opneing of the new middle school,” Lindbergh said.
The administration is now in a position of having to make further cuts to make up the $347,141 difference between the override figure proposed by the school department and the figure endorsed by the council. The good news is that the district anticipates about $147,000 in savings by changing its health care contract, which means the district is now faced with having to address a little over $200,000 in cuts.