The Warwick School Committee trimmed its projected deficit a bit by eliminating five positions and moving about $300,000 from its general fund to its grants budget during a special meeting last Thursday.

In total, the cut positions and moves amount to $401,248 in savings, according to School Committee Chair Shaun Galligan. Warwick Public Schools is still $5,704,119 in the hole for Fiscal Year 2025.

Initial meeting plans, however, showed a much higher number of cuts than what was approved, including 24 personnel cuts affecting teacher assistants, maintenance staff and clerical staff.

“We continue to have an expectation of our administration that, as the superintendent stated, there will be no stone left unturned,” Galligan said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that those cuts will be accepted by this committee.”

The proposed cuts received vehement opposition from members of the public at the meeting, with 18 members of the public speaking against them and no public voices in support.

Austin Irons, the culinary-arts instructor at the Warwick Area Career & Technical Center, said that the proposed cuts at WACTC would leave the school district more vulnerable to litigation because it would make conditions more unsafe for students.

“I pose this question to the administration and the School Committee: Are you prepared to defend the position that a career center with only one special-ed teacher and one special-ed assistant meets the standards for a free and appropriate public education?” Irons said. “In my view, grossly understaffing the Special Services Department at the Career Center is not only disappointing and unacceptable, but also borders on negligence. It will not withstand the requirements of a free and appropriate public education.”

In addition to Irons, WACTC principal Tim Kane spoke against the cuts, as well as Lippitt Elementary School principal Erick Pagan, who urged the School Committee in a letter to protect a teacher assistant at his school whose position would be cut otherwise.

“Without these crucial supports, many of the students will face unnecessary barriers to their success, potentially hindering their ability to complete their certifications, internships and other essential components of their career and technical education,” Kane said.

Other commenters urged the committee to look at personnel cuts within the district’s administration as opposed to union positions, with a few calling for change within the WPS finance department.

Four of the five personnel positions cut were currently unfilled or had a member retiring before the end of the year. The fifth, according to Galligan, was a teacher-assistant position at Pilgrim for a student who has not been present; that was the only TA position cut out of 11 districtwide that was still on the chopping block.  

School Committee member David Testa had called for a similar motion that would have also removed two additional positions with outgoing members; he rescinded his motion in support of Galligan’s.

Testa said managing the number of personnel was an issue that would persist, and was a major budget issue that would have to be resolved for Fiscal Year 2026.

“Fundamentally, we have to look at how we staff,” Testa said. “We cannot keep doing what we’ve always been doing. There’s just not enough money in the city to pay for that… We cannot build a budget next year with the same [number] of people – we would be setting ourselves up to fail.”

Galligan emphasized that while many moves were abandoned at the meeting, some of the changes that did not pass would remain on the table.

Among other potential cuts, large changes to the funding of the Warwick Independent School Employees union pension – which would have constituted over $2 million of the proposed changes – will be discussed at the Feb. 11 School Committee meeting.

“When I went before the City Council, I was very clear and honest with them that we as a committee will draw down the deficit as much as we can until we feel uncomfortable, and I think we’re slowly starting to approach that number,” Galligan said.