Tiverton Citizens for Change

The School Committee jumped right into budget discussions, inasmuch as I was only a few minutes late, and they were well into it. As one might expect, the upshot of the discussion is that the Budget Committee’s proposed budget would result in “draconian” cuts.

Astonishingly — and I really mean that adverb; it’s not just a flourish — nobody has brought up the legal ruling that affirmed the East Providence School Committee in its decision to implement unilateral employment terms to save money. Honestly, even if nobody on the committee has any intention of doing such a thing, as a simple matter of negotiations, that possibility should be mentioned. That it has not been (and will not be) illustrates the erroneous approach that these local committees take to negotiations.

On top of that omission, the committee is discussing whether an error resulted in the district’s not getting all of the money from the town to which it was entitled. Speaking about stabilization funds, Superintendent Bill Rearick stated that he thought additional funds were supposed to go directly to the district. Once again, everybody in the room is simply ignoring the fact that the financial town meeting explicitly required all additional money to flow back to the town.

7:42 p.m.

Nothing resolved. Rearick’s going to put together a detailed list of the horrors that will face the schools if the district doesn’t get the budget it wants, because apparently facing down the unions scares the committee even more than decreasing services and opportunities for students.

8:05 p.m.

Wide-ranging discussion about Department of Education-related topics. They’ve now turned toward teacher evaluation and performance compensation. Apparently, RIDE hasn’t been able to find a pay system anywhere in the country that suits their needs and will building one of their own.