EXETER — The question of how much money the Exeter-West Greenwich School District will have next year - and how much each town will contribute to the regional district’s budget - has become a little more complicated.

The school committee addressed residents’ concerns at meetings on Monday and Tuesday in the wake of two proposed amendments to reduce the committee’s $29.4 million proposed budget for the 2009-10 school year.

The first proposal would cut the school committee’s final budget by $400,000, while the second amendment would reduce the budget by $640,000.

Either, said Superintendent Dr. Thomas Geismar, would “devastate” the district.

Both proposals have come out of West Greenwich which, due to student enrollment percentages, will have contribute more money to the district’s budget this year than Exeter.

While voters can make motions to reduce the school committee’s proposed budget at the district’s annual financial meeting, the deadline for motions to increase or decrease the committee’s final budget by more than $10,000 was March 19.

Should one of the amendments for additional cuts pass, the music program at the Metcalf School could suffer. The committee has already approved the elimination of a .8 elementary music teacher, which will require some restructing of the elementary music program, Geismar said.

If either of the amendments is approved, the fifth and sixth grade band may be eliminated. Other possibilities the committee would consider to reduce its budget if necessary include the elimination of four junior high school teachers, a .5 senior project coordinator, two clerical positions, one teaching assistant, and junior and senior high school sports.

Several students, teachers and parents attended this week’s meetings to stress the importance of the early-age music program and provided testimonials to the necessity of having the program in the fifth and sixth grades.

Chairperson Susan DeSack said the committee shared their concerns and asked that all citizens present vote at the district financial meeting on April 20.

“We will need all the support we can get at the financial meeting so that budget cuts don’t happen,” DeSack said.

In addition to the possibility that the district could receive less funding than the committee has asked for should one of those amendments pass, the committee’s request for a one-year Charter amendment has left a $408,780 balance swinging between Exeter and West Greenwich.

DeSack stressed the importance of a charter amendment in funding the school district for the next year, saying the “charter change helps the school district and both communities.”

Exeter citizens and town council members have expressed disapproval of the charter amendment, as keeping the current charter would shift the $408,780 burden to West Greenwich.

Although the school district’s annual financial meeting will take place April 20, the proposal to amend the charter will be presented to each town individually at their respective financial town meetings. The charter amendment must be approved separately by voters in both Exeter and West Greenwich in order for it to be enacted.

The committee expressed discomfort with attempting to force either of the towns to comply with the charter amendment through legislation in the general assembly.

DeSack also noted that while the school committee has voted to present a level-funded budget to voters for the next school year, it was still between $500,000 and $600,000 away from realizing the budget. Geismar said Monday that negotiations with representatives from the teacher’s union were ongoing and that the administration hoped to reach some concessions with the union, which would help alleviate some of the gap. He said the administration also anticipates it will receive some federal stimulus money.

Geismar met with union reps again Tuesday morning, and said the negotiations went well, but no final agreement had been reached.

The committee took some time before the budget discussion to honor Melissa Marino, principal of the Metcalf School and Lineham Elementary. Marino was award the First Year Principal award for Rhode Island for her services to the schools last year. Superintendent Thomas Geismar presented Marino with an award for her efforts and achievements. Marino will be honored statewide at a ceremony closer to the end of the year.

The junior high boys wrestling team was also honored for their Southern Division Co-Championship title for the 2008-09 winter season. This is the first year in 15 years that the junior high team has won the championship.

The school committee will hold a budget workshop on Tuesday, March 31 at 6 p.m., a regular meeting on Tuesday, April 14 at 7 p.m., and the district financial meeting on April 20 at 7 p.m.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Shawna A. Arnold is a freelance reporter for The Standard-Times.