South Kingstown school committee flags cuts to arts, sports and student supports as town offers $1M of $2.5M request

The South Kingstown School Committee spent its meeting reviewing a FY27 budget ‘matrix’ that the superintendent said reflected a $1.1 million operating gap driven by a roughly $400,000 reduction in state aid and higher-than-expected health and dental costs.

The superintendent, speaking to the committee, said the district requested an additional $2.5 million from the town and that the town’s preliminary budget included $1 million of that request. He told members that, even after considering fund balance and potential cuts, the listed “bad-to-worse” options would only close about $1.1 million of the shortfall.

Why it matters: Committee members and parents said cuts to electives, counseling and after-school services would disproportionately hit marginalized students, weaken the district’s feeder system for athletics and arts, and risk enrollment declines that would further strain the budget.

The committee’s discussion and the superintendent’s matrix identified the primary drivers of the gap: the decrease in state aid (about $400,000), an approximately $531,818 medical cost bucket (with additional retiree-related increases described), and previously counted one-time appropriations that are not recurring. The superintendent said these changes would have required a $2.9 million town request if known earlier, but the district submitted a $2.5 million request and the town proposed $1 million in the preliminary transfer.

Potential cuts the superintendent presented included reduced elementary and middle-school music electives, phasing out some middle-school world-language offerings, eliminating middle-school JV sports (estimated about $74,000), cutting summer credit-recovery programs, eliminating late buses and reducing extracurricular stipends beyond contractual obligations. The district also reviewed deferred technology replacements — including laptops and network upgrades — which could jeopardize E-rate reimbursements if delayed.

On capital projects: Mrs. Proctor reviewed the district’s capital-improvement (CIP) submissions to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). She explained which projects are completed and already submitted for reimbursement, which are completed but not yet compiled, and which are work in progress. Committee members asked for a clearer presentation that separates totals for projects already submitted to RIDE from completed-but-not-submitted projects and that includes an estimated 35% reimbursement column so the town council can see expected returns.

Public comment: Teachers, parents and residents urged the committee to press the town for more funds. Mary Kutcher, a high-school teacher, said the town “has $24,000,000 in their reserve budget, and they don't wanna give us 1 and a half of that.” Parent and school-counselor Katie Garvin warned that eliminating elementary arts or middle-school teams would push families toward private programs and shrink future high-school participation. Music teacher Christine Pearson and Broad Rock teacher Ashley Weeks described the classroom and social-emotional impacts of staffing losses.

Next steps: Committee members agreed to refine the matrix and prepare a concise presentation for joint hearings with the town council on April 6 and April 7. The chair and members also noted administrative deadlines for petitioning the preliminary budget and potential referendum dates, and they urged community members to attend the hearings.

Votes and motions: The committee approved the consent agenda earlier in the meeting, later voted to reopen public comment, and adjourned after public comment.