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Dave and Dave, I agree. One must remember that the school committee has until June 30th to present to the State a balanced budget. It must be balanced on paper. I seriously doubt that the Unions will make an agreement with the schools before that date. The school committee WILL have to go in and make the cuts (on paper) to be compliant with State Law. The fact is, the schools will not know what their total surplus (or deficit) is until after they get in all State and Federal funds and that comes in at the wire and sometimes after June 30th. Once the numbers come in and they know what they are dealing with they can sit down and have an honest discussion about how to proceed. The union will not want to give thing up prior to knowing how much is needed. The schools won't know what to ask for.

Once programs are cut, everyone will know what is in jeopardy. Remember, the school committee has and does return things to the budget after cuts have been made pending the receipt of funds. There is currently a prediction based on previous end of year budgets. It won't take much for the surplus to be gone either.

So, it is important for people to come out to the school committee meetings and let the school committee know what programs are most important to you. People should not expect any additional funding. People should expect some of their favorite programs to be cut. It isn't fair but it is the way it is. The city council meetings were last month and they were not properly attended, the schools did not have a good turn out and funding suffered. I was surprised the meetings were not well attended by the teachers and WISE unions. The Police and Fire were well represented by members.

The cuts WILL have an effect on the classroom and your (and my) student's education.

Don't blame the school committee for having to make the cuts, it is a State law. Make sure they know it is wrong, turn out and tell them what you want! There is a chance it will stay in the budget but not before June 30th. I expect the School Committee will meet with the unions, they have given concessions in the past. They are not the enemy, these cuts affect them too. It is my expectation that before the start of the school year an agreement will be made either in the way of deferred compensation, early retirement packages), and possibly increased benefit co-pay.

Dave66, I think you made some very valid points. The unions have helped in the past, they can not be asked to do it alone. Unfortunately, Dave107 is correct too, the Mayor and City Council have things exactly the way they want it, out of their hands. They have put things on the School Committee once again and they will make the difficult choices and unfortunately, we will suffer the consequences.

The city WILL NOT step up to the plate.

If in the end, all the cuts have been made and we are at the Basic Education Plan, the schools can go in and make cuts and changes across the board to everything, wait to get sued (by the city, unions, and/or parents), go to court and all they will have to do is prove they were not adequately funded and have already cut everything, tried to get concessions unsuccessfully, still couldn't pay the bills and hopefully, the RI court system will uphold the decisions. It happened in East Providence and Central Falls.

I have already heard that the ALAP program has been cut and the teachers have been involuntarily transferred from ALAP to the classroom.

Good luck. I will be attending the meeting June 25th at the Warwick Administration Building.

From: Schools should call on unions to help balance budget

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