BY JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET — The School Committee headed toward a second Caruolo Act school funding lawsuit last night after it approved a budget revision establishing a $6.1 million deficit in the 2009-2010 budget and also restoring sports and extra-curricular programs cut from that plan a month ago.

The 4-0 vote of the four members present will set the school department on a path to formally request the City Council fund the $6.1 million shortfall at its next regularly scheduled meeting. If the council rejects the funding addition, the Committee would then move to sue the city for the additional revenue as it did to cover last year’s $3.7 million school deficit.
The prior suit was settled when the city covered the school deficit under a 5-year deficit reduction plan that will add $525,000 to the school department budget as a yearly contribution to that effort.
School Superintendent Robert J. Gerardi Jr. told the panel yesterday he and school department Business Manager Stacey Busby have been meeting with Mayor Susan D. Menard on ways to address the funding shortfall but have not been able to come up with an acceptable plan to that end.
One option that had been discussed would see the department eliminate half of its teachers for grades 1-8 as a budget savings of $1.3 million and another, the closing of the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center, he noted. Gerardi said he could not recommend the staffing cuts and also did not support the closing of the Career Center since the department is set to receive federal stimulus funding this year to help cover the costs of its staffing.
The department is still awaiting word from Menard on possible changes in health care for another savings but have not finalized that plan as of Wednesday, he said.
The department also sought to save money by appealing to the Commissioner of Education for the waiver of a number of state education mandates but learned recently that the request had been turned down and in addition that the state wants the department to add six new positions as part of its efforts to improve local student performance.
As a result, Gerardi said he would recommend “the most prudent budget for the department at this time and request the city revise its revenue award funding the budget.”
 While the city approved a budget reflecting less than level funding for local schools this  year, Gerardi noted most of the reduction actually resulted from the city’s loss of state aid overall.
The figure submitted includes the restoration of sports and extracurricular activities at the high school level since the state indicated such programs were not barred by its basic education program.The middle school would still see its programs cut but private donations that have already come into assist the department in its budget woes could be targeted to those programs as a result of the restoration of the high school activities, he noted.
 The city council could choose block funding for a restoration of the high school activities but the amount involved, $155,903 for high school sports, would not have significant impact on the department’s overall budget problem, according to school officials.
 In fact, the sports cost was less than the cost of the new positions ordered by the state, according to Gerardi.
 Under questioning by Eleanor Nadeau, Gerardi noted the new positions -- including a limited English proficiency administrator, a certified English language learning instructor and two high school reading specialists—would add a total of $276,299 to the budget even as the department was blocked from dropping other unfunded state mandates.
“If the state can do this to us and not fund us, why should we punish the children,” Nadeau said. “You are in a crisis and you are told to add positions. If they can do that to us I’m not going to take anything away from the kids,” she said.
 School Committeewoman Linda Majewski also pointed to inequities in the state school funding system as being part of the local problem.
 The department is required to add positions under the state’s intervention and support action plan addressing insufficient progress on student performance but also receives little funding to implement the increases, according to Majewski.
“I see a lot of intervention but I don’t see any support,” she said.
 While gaining support from the four members present, Committeewoman Anita MacGuire-Forcier was absent, Gerardi also received a request from Nadeau to again approach members of the Woonsocket Teachers Guild for any assistance it might be to provide in lowering department costs this year.
The union has already reworked its current contract to accept a zero-percent pay raise for two years but turned down a request to have its members take 40 unpaid work days in the coming school year.
 Gerardi said he would send the Guild a letter requesting additional discussions on possible budget saving moves as requested by the committee. A letter requesting the required meeting with the City Council is expected to be submitted to city hall today.