Chariho committee adopts FY26 budget after vote to cut $875,000 tied to Hope Valley closure

The Chariho Regional School District School Committee adopted the fiscal year 2026 budget on March 11 after a series of motions to implement $875,000 in reductions tied to the previously approved closure of Hope Valley Elementary School.

Superintendent Gina Picard told the committee the administration had prepared the budget based on the panel’s earlier direction to remove $875,000 connected to the school closure and recommended the committee give staff the authority to reallocate the affected dollars across the district. Finance director Greg Zenyon presented the numbers the committee used to guide the reductions.

At the meeting the committee approved several specific reductions that together filled the $875,000 gap. Those items, as presented by staff and discussed in public, included a $100,000 reduction tied to an elementary‑school nurse position, $85,000 in busing savings, $195,000 in maintenance and utilities savings, two first‑grade full‑time equivalents (roughly $200,000), one second‑grade FTE (about $100,000), one custodian ($60,000), one teaching assistant ($40,000), and $95,000 in Hope Valley capital savings. The committee also approved removing a $4,700 line for a postponed New England School (NEASC) accreditation expense.

Committee members filed individual motions on some of those line items; a motion to remove $100,000 for the nurse was moved and seconded and then approved. The committee then approved a motion to remove the remainder of the $775,000 of Hope Valley‑related items (busing, maintenance, grade‑level FTEs, custodian, TA, capital). After public comment and further discussion the committee voted to restore one bus at an estimated $85,000 to maintain flexibility for student transportation, reversing a proposed cut in that category.

With the approved cuts and the small adjustments, Mr. Zenyon read the tax‑share calculations for the three member towns. The committee’s adopted budget results in an overall spending after state aid of about $44,272,315 and the following member shares and percentage changes from the prior year: Charlestown $12,445,497 (a 1.02% decrease), Richmond $16,017,696 (a 1.61% increase), and Hopkinton $15,809,123 (a 1.07% increase). The committee voted to adopt the budget as presented with the adopted reductions.

Committee members discussed the operational impacts of the cuts and the logistics of reallocating staff once the budget is adopted. Superintendent Picard reminded the committee that when a school closes many employees will be reassigned to other buildings, which shifts UCOA accounting lines even when headcount remains active in the district. Legal counsel John Anderson also reminded the panel that any move below the district’s maintenance‑of‑effort level would require approval from the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education.

The committee took the budget vote after hearing more than an hour of public comment on related policy items and the Hope Valley closure. The budget adoption vote carried; the committee then approved routine budget transfers and consent items later in the meeting.

Votes at a glance: the committee voted to (1) remove $100,000 tied to a Hope Valley nurse position (motion approved), (2) remove the remaining $775,000 in Hope Valley‑related reductions as itemized (motion approved), (3) restore one bus at $85,000 (motion approved after discussion), (4) remove $4,700 for postponed NEASC accreditation (motion approved), and (5) adopt the full FY26 budget with the above changes (motion approved).