Politics & Government

School Committee Approves $37.9m Budget

Budget eliminates 12 staff positions.

The School Committee, in a 5-2 vote, approved a $37.9 million budget for fiscal 2015 — an increase of 2.4 percent over the previous year.

The budget, as expected, includes $652,000 in savings from the elimination of 12 positions (full time equivalents) .

Several amendments proposed before the final vote that would have increased the budget by Committee Member John Wojichowski, who proposed an increase of $274,531, which would have increased the budget by more than 3 percent and saved five positions. That amendment failed, and so did a second which called for reducing the amount the district will use from its surplus from $300,000 to $200,000, which would increase the town's appropriation by about .4 percent. That measure failed in a 4-3 vote.

EastBayRI.com reported that the budget meeting was sparesly attended and Larry Fitzmorris of Portsmouth Concerned Citizens said the district entered the budget year with financial woes because the committee didn't think ahead when it approved labor contracts.

The budget now heads to the town.


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