Coventry school leaders press for joint plan after town council statement on accumulated deficit

Superintendent Don Cowart told the Coventry School Committee that auditors had identified a deficit in the retired-employee account that would need to be moved into the district’s general fund, prompting a letter and a subsequent town council statement that the district’s leaders said mischaracterized months of internal work.

The school committee discussed the town council item during its regular meeting; Cowart said he and finance director Chris Diverno were asked to attend the council meeting to explain the discovery and answer questions. Cowart said the council later voted on and posted a separate statement about the school department’s projected accumulated deficit. "I don't wanna start getting into the finger pointing exercises or the cheap shots back and forth across the aisle," Cowart said, adding that his priority was to move forward with a plan that minimized impacts on taxpayers, students and staff.

Committee members said they want to work with town leaders to develop a joint deficit-reduction plan. Several members said the tone of the council's public statement set back efforts to communicate progress on accounting fixes and internal controls that the district has already put in place.

Why it matters: Cowart said the district is preparing a deficit-reduction plan that, when complete, will go to the school committee and the town council. The committee also received a budget presentation from Diverno that detailed the district’s finances ahead of the required submission to the town manager in March and emphasized operational pressure points that could affect classrooms and capital needs.

Key budget figures and pressures presented - Operating budget discussed: roughly $81,000,000 (district figure presented by the superintendent). - Salaries and benefits combined account for the bulk of the budget: Diverno cited about $47,000,000 in salaries and about $18,000,000 in benefits in the most recent fiscal year figures he reviewed. - A $25,000,000 bond remains authorized but not yet used; auditors’ work and outstanding audits were cited as reasons the district has not yet issued the bonds. - The district’s per-pupil expenditure for traditional schools was presented as about $21,000; the state average cited by staff was about $26,000, highlighting Coventry’s relatively lean spending compared with many districts. - An additional local appropriation of $140,000 was added to this year's budget to address the deficit area identified during the audit process.

Unfunded mandates, capital needs and revenue notes Diverno and Cowart highlighted several recurring pressures that affect long-term planning: unfunded legislative mandates such as structured-literacy training (the superintendent said the district has spent about $303,000 on training to comply with the Right to Read-style requirements), mandated curriculum adoptions, and out-of-district tuition and transportation costs. Cowart said some single out-of-district special-education placements can cost in the six figures per student with transportation added.

The committee also heard a review of capital priorities. Cowart said the $25 million bond would pay for needs the district called "need-to-have" items, such as a middle-school roof replacement, high-school gym upgrades, sprinkler and sewer connections. He warned the longer the projects are delayed the larger the eventual cost will be.

Grants, contracts and food service Diverno told the committee he had adjusted revenue projections after collecting additional billing data and noted increases in tuition revenue tied to CTE and preschool tuition, which the district recently raised from about $150 to $200 per month for certain preschool slots. He also said Medicaid reimbursements and grant reimbursements were being pursued more aggressively and that the district expected some increases, while food-service costs remain a program that historically runs at a deficit and is sensitive to unionized labor costs in vendor contracts with Sodexo.

Next steps and context Cowart said he has requested renewed joint meetings with town leadership and the town manager to coordinate on the deficit and that a formal deficit-reduction plan will come before both bodies. The school committee scheduled its next meeting for Feb. 13, 2025, and Diverno and Cowart said they will return with more detailed budget and salary/benefit information ahead of the March submission to the town manager.

Provenance: The discussion of the town council statement, the audit finding in the retired-employee account and the request for joint meetings was raised beginning at the committee presentation of the town council item and Cowart's remarks (transcript timestamps ~2380.65–2534.19). The budget presentation by Diverno followed and continued through the committee's questions (transcript timestamps ~3035.79–3775.90).