School Budget Planning Begins with Less State Aid

EAST GREENWICH, RI—The East Greenwich School Committee will begin its annual budget process tonight with two major priorities: implementing all-day kindergarten across the district and implementing an 8 a.m. start time at Archie R. Cole Middle School and East Greenwich High School.

In a public memo, East Greenwich School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Mark said that “we don’t anticipate an easy budget season,” and the district’s strategic priorities will require additional funds.

One issue is that the district is losing $165,623 in state aid due to changes to the Fair Funding Formula, which has favored districts with higher low-income student populations.

On the bright side, implementing the 8 a.m. start times will save the district some money. The change will enable the elimination of a mid-day bus run so the total transportation budget increase would be “closer to $90,000 rather than our initial estimate of $143,000,” Mark said.

And, Mark noted, the improved student well-being that comes with later start times is a benefit that no dollar amount can encapsulate.

“In addition to implementing a change that will benefit the health and wellness of our older students, we are excited about the prospect of putting all of our elementary schools on the same schedule with an 8:50am start. Such a change will support curriculum development, common planning across schools, and other forms of inter-school collaboration that are difficult or impossible to achieve with staggered schedules. This change will truly be a win-win,” she said.

The committee will vote on their final budget before it’s sent to the Town Council on March 15. Between now and then, the district will hold a series of budget meetings and all of them will be posted on their YouTube channel.