Warwick School Committee approves FY26 budget with staffing cuts after heated public comment

The Warwick School Committee on Thursday approved the superintendent-recommended FY26 budget, voting 3–2 to send a $198,162,060 spending plan to the city and the budget commission after making several committee-level amendments.

The approved package includes a recalculation of the teacher/admin pension contribution that reduced the initially proposed line by $3,000,000, a subsequent reallocation of $1,000,000 back into private-pension payments, and a $100,000 reduction to the class-overage line. Committee members said the moves balance immediate fiscal pressure with some caution against underfunding obligations later in the year.

The budget carries forward a five-year deficit-reduction plan presented by Interim Superintendent McCaffrey that forecasts steps intended to eliminate the district’s structural deficit by FY29. McCaffrey said the presentation showed a “budget built with a structural surplus” in the draft and that state aid figures recently updated the district’s calculations.

Why it matters: The budgetmakers and administration framed the steps as necessary to move the district out of the special budget commission oversight created to address the deficit. Several parents, union leaders and school staff said…