Overspending or Underfunded? Providence School Budget in Crisis
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
The budget for Providence schools has increased by nearly $40 million since 2003, but officials say a recent reduction in federal funding is causing headaches for the school district while others claim the district has little to show for reckless spending over the past decade.
A GoLocalProv review of the district’s finances shows that approximately 80 percent of its 2010 budget went toward salaries and benefits while less than $6 million was allocated for supplies for the city’s 23,500 students.
In a city that has been cited as having among the lowest-performing Latino students in the country and still has a stubbornly high dropout rate (23 percent in 2010), some outspoken critics of Mayor Angel Taveras’ administration are saying that with such little leeway when it comes to finances, the district has been forced to make decisions that will do little to transform the schools and curb the dropout rate.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The allocation of resources is a major concern for the Providence Public Schools,” said Kathy Crain, the former School Board President who resigned last summer. “There is rampant overspending in some areas, and considerable underfunding in others (such as classroom support and technology).”
PPSD at a Considerable Disadvantage
Crain, who as President voted in favor of terminating every teacher in the school district last year and later supported a decision to close five schools, has become the Mayor’s loudest critic since leaving the School Board, chastising his administration for offering little more than rhetoric when it comes to a vision for the city’s schools.
She claims the city has put finances above all else and said new Superintendent Susan Lusi has been hamstrung by depleted resources in the district’s central office.
“Unfortunately for the students of Providence, the Mayor eliminated the position of Chief Financial Officer from our School Department, leaving the PPSD at a considerable disadvantage when it comes to the proper allocation and distribution of resources,” Crain said. “The result is a superintendent that must perform the job of both CEO and CFO, and classrooms without working computers, teachers without printers and school buildings without functioning copy machines.”
Crain said students and their teachers don't have the basic tools they need to function in the classroom, and by eliminating the position of CFO, the city has simply gotten rid of the one person that could address those issues.
“Yet another example of the Mayor's inability to think strategically and pragmatically in planning for the future of the Providence Public Schools,” she said.
Federal Funding Hits
Taveras has consistently said he has had to make difficult spending decisions across the board in an effort to close the $110 million structural deficit he inherited when he took office in January. But it’s not just a lack of local resources plaguing the city’s struggling schools.
A recent reduction in the amount of federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) dollars allocated to Providence is also a cause for concern for Lusi, who became Superintendent this summer.
Lusi has said that as many as “14 or 15” Providence schools may be identified as persistently low-achieving by early next year, which would force the district to choose from four federally mandated intervention models to address the failing schools. The problem is that while the government continues to push for school reform, it hasn’t completely followed through on funding promises.
In the first cohort of schools named persistently lowest-achieving in 2010, six schools (five in Providence and one in Central Falls) were each eligible for SIG funding of anywhere between $500,000 and $2 million per year. In October, seven more schools were added to the list, including five from Providence. The second cohort of schools will share just $2 million total.
“There was much more funding for Cohort I then there will be for Cohort II,” Lusi said in an e-mail to GoLocalProv. “This is because the Cohort I funds were increased via [the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act] and this will not be the case for Cohort II. This is obviously a very big concern for Providence: The needs are just as large (actually larger) in Cohort II as in Cohort I; there are 5 schools in Cohort II, rather than 4; and the schools in Cohort II are larger, on average, than in Cohort I. In other words, based on the characteristics of Cohort II, it would be reasonable to think that more funding would be needed and instead, we’re getting less.”
Lusi isn’t the only one concerned about the drop in federal dollars. Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and the Board of Regents have called for some of the money to be restored next year to help address the state’s failing schools.
“Commissioner Gist is also concerned about the limited amount of School Improvement Grant funds available to help schools identified as persistently lowest achieving,” spokesman Elliot Krieger said. “To provide additional help to these schools as they develop and implement plans for school reform, the Board of Regents has requested that the Fiscal 2013 budget restore $2.7 million in funds for ‘progressive support and intervention,’ which would be targeted to help the persistently lowest-achieving schools.”
Need to Use Existing Resources Effectively
In his visit to Rhode Island last week, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was pressed with funding questions by Lusi and other members of a panel during a town hall meeting at the Providence Career and Technical Academy. Duncan said the Obama administration is committed spending on education initiatives, but called Congress a major roadblock.
Lusi said she understands the economy is playing a role when it comes to local funding, but said the neediest school districts are the ones being affected most.
“The economy is definitely hurting schools, and it hurts those in the neediest communities, like Providence, disproportionately because low income populations have fewer resources to see them through tough times,” Lusi said. “This means that the students and families we serve have even greater needs, while our system has less money with which to serve them.”
Lusi said there is a national discussion around how to look at other approaches to providing education and that questions are being asked about ways to deliver education in ways that are equally effective at a reduced cost. But clear answers have yet to emerge from the debate.
“We need to use our existing resources as effectively and efficiently as possible and reallocate where we can,” she said.
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