School committee proposes charter amendment to alter district’s funding formula

By Shawna A. Arnold
Special to the Standard

EXETER — The school committee discussed the decision to move forward with the proposal for a change to the committee charter on Tuesday night, outlining the necessity to evenly split school related costs between the towns of Exeter and West Greenwich.

The committee is configuring an option for a charter amendment that will provide a 50-50 split of the tax costs for the regional district’s schools between the two towns. The committee will need to hold an all-day referendum in order to ensure that residents have sufficient time to educate themselves on the proposed amendment and cast a vote. The charter change will need both legislative support and majority support from both communities.

Chairperson Susan DeSack said that this amendment has the potential to happen in time for the 2009-10 school year. DeSack said although there has always been an imbalance between the number of students each town has had enrolled in schools before, it has not been uneven to the current extreme.

Should the charter be amended to allow a 50-50 split of costs between the towns, it would not exactly be drawn down the middle. The committee’s plan provides that the cost of schools to each town will be determined in lieu of last year’s costs. Each community will contribute the total dollar amount from the previous year plus 50 percent of the increase for the next year. Although the upcoming increase will be split between the towns evenly, that will be added to the unmatched amounts each paid in the previous year. Committee member Teri Cicero noted that although this is not a completely even split, this is as close as it’s going to get with the proposed charter change.

Other concerns for the 2009-10 school year budget lay with the Federal Stimulus Package that is currently between the House of Representative and the Senate. Superintendent Dr. Thomas J. Geismar expressed the importance of this package for education and is concerned with the changes the Senate has in mind. According to Geismar, if the Senate has its way, funding in the package for Head Start programs will be cut. Although this does not directly affect EWG schools, he said it would have a significant impact on the education of many children.

After a joint meeting with the town council on Feb. 12 to discuss the 2009-10 budget proposal, the school committee will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, to discuss the proposed charter amendment.