News Brief: School Board Trims 2011-12 Spending Proposal

Members of the Johnston School Committee went through the proposed school budget for fiscal 2012 a second time on March 16 during a budget workshop held at . The committee is scheduled to meet March 22 at 6 p.m. for a final workshop; a vote is set for 7 p.m., prior to a regular committee session.

Supt. Dr. Bernard DiLullo began the March 16 session by recounting the budget process thus far — in his initial proposal, the school budget would have increased by $1.5 million, including an estimated $1 million higher contribution from the town.

"We spent the last week looking at where we could make reductions, and we made some additions," DiLullo explained.

Among the changes to the original proposal were the use of $400,000 from the school department's surplus in the current fiscal year; a higher state aid contribution, based on Gov. Lincoln Chafee's budget proposal; and adjustments to the school department's severance costs and pension contributions.

Taken together, these reductions brought the estimated increase for fiscal 2012 to about $469,000 — almost exactly the same number of the proposed increase in the town's contribution.

During the rest of the meeting, committee members offered a range of ideas to further cut the budget proposal in their attempt to reach a level-funded budget for a fourth straight year.

Watch for a full re-cap of the school committees's budget workshop tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. on JohnstonPatch