Smithfield Town Council May Pledge New Educational Funding

Town Council members were tight-lipped as School Committee Chair Richard B. Iannitelli pushed for details on the Smithfield Schools audit Monday, but two councilors said they may pledge $300,000 in escrowed funds for new teachers.

The money is part of $450,000 escrowed pending the School Department audit now being conducted by Bacon & Edge Consulting of Providence, due in November. The escrowed account was set up during Smithfield's June 13 Financial Town Meeting.

Bacon & Edge conducted a similar audit of the Woonsocket School Department in 2011, recommending that the department could operate at $59 million, a figure the Woonsocket School Department contested unsuccessfully then failed to hold itself to under negligent financial management.  

During Monday's joint School Committee/Council meeting at SHS, Iannitelli asked for reassurance that the audit would not second-guess the School Committee's oversight of the Smithfield School Department. He said, for example, that if the School Committee decides to budget $79 for pencils, "That's something that the Town Council should not be looking at. The School Committee should be looking at that. All I'm asking for is criteria for how you're going to evaluate," Iannitelli said.

Councilors did not offer those details. "My first thing is that criteria be done first, not after the fact," Iannitelli said after the meeting, expressing disappointment that the basis for the assessment of the audit hasn't been communicated by the Council.

But the School Committee did appear to make some progress on the need for some of the escrowed funds to plan out the coming school year, and in convincing the Council to apply lessons learned in the audit to the following school year instead of this one.

Superintendent Robert O'Brien told Councilors the department needs a new librarian, guidance counselor (to aid students in navigating new graduation requirements) and two new social studies teachers, at a price tag of $285,000. 

Adding a full-time technology teacher and half-time music teacher would bring that price tag up to $390,000, he said. Without the funding to bring on those essential positions, O'Brien said, ...we would have to cut from other areas." Already, he said, he's cut five percent from unpredictable line items like heating oil, special education, charter school enrollment and bus services.

"We could probably get by with $300,000," Iannitelli said. But planning to use any of the escrowed funding requires the Council's approval first. 

"I would certainly not be opposed to releasing all or any of it," said Council President Alberto J. LaGreca, Jr. Also, he said, "Maybe the audit would be a better tool to use as applied for the upcoming budget," instead of the current year.

Legal Counsel Edmund Alves said some of the funds could be pledged as an aid in budget planning, but only the whole amount could be "released" from escrow.

"Your meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 6) is pretty much closing the door on new teachers," said Iannitelli, since O'Brien needs the time starting this week to recruit for the positions.

No vote was taken during the joint meeting. After, Councilor Bernard Hawkins said he was considering LaGreca's idea to pledge part of the escrowed funds and apply the Council's decisions on the audit's findings to the next school year. He said he's willing to work with the School Committee in the best interests of the students of Smithfield.

The Smithfield Town Council's Tuesday meeting was set for 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 64 Farnum Pike. Item F, "Consider, discuss, and act upon School Department funding request," was the last scheduled item on their agenda.