Warwick school committee declines action after Budget Commission presents five-year deficit plan

The Warwick School Committee on March 24 received a presentation of a five-year deficit reduction plan prepared by the City of Warwick Budget Commission but declined to take action, citing concerns the proposal rests on unstable assumptions and one-time funds.

Executive Director Enos, representing the Budget Commission, reviewed recent shortfalls and the plan's arithmetic: "In fiscal year 23 there was a deficit of $474,802 and in fiscal year 24 we ended with a deficit of $747,328," he said, noting a two-year total of $1,222,130 that the city has agreed to cover. Enos told the committee the commission's current projected baseline deficit stands at $5,766,101 and that the five-year plan spreads a combined FY25'FY26 shortfall (about $7,947,489) across FY27 through FY31.

Chair (name not given) pressed the commission for specifics and repeatedly asked yes-or-no questions about process and assumptions. The chair said the plan, as presented, "relies on one-time funds in FY26 to recover recurring expenses" and set out a long list of cost drivers the plan does not adequately address, including rising health-care and dental costs, uncertainty in federal grants, and special-education out-of-district tuition increases. "For these…