PROVIDENCE – The Glocester School Committee has filed a complaint against the town with the Rhode Island Department of Education, saying that town officials failed to follow maintenance of effort laws over at least the past six years, resulting in a district funding shortfall of more than $1,000,000.
The complaint, submitted in July by Attorney Gregory Piccirilli on behalf of the committee, has yet to be addressed by RIDE.
It’s a dispute over funding that has put town and school officials in Glocester at odds in recent months. Voters passed a $35.5 million budget in a town referendum in May, but district officials said the allocation for town elementary schools fell short of what was needed for the year – and soon after announced plans to lay off 13 teacher’s aides.
At the time, town councilors discussed putting a second supplementary tax before voters to help fund the school system. But board members later said school officials did not provide ample information regarding how the district would spend that money, and the initiative was abandoned.
The complaint to RIDE obtained by NRI NOW shows it was right around the same time that Piccirilli requested state intervention in the matter in the form of a ruling from the Commissioner of Education.
The attorney says that for many years, the town has used a “budget gimmick” to avoid maintenance of effort law, which requires communities to contribute at least as much to the school system as the previous year. In Glocester, councilors over the years have reportedly allocated funds to the district outside the regular budget process under the condition that the money would not count toward the town’s future obligation.
In fiscal year 2024, for example, the town appropriated $7,192,668, but also sent a separate payment to the schools of $520,000 – funds not included in the district’s budget for the following year.
Piccirilli notes that Asst. Supt. Patricia Dubois questioned those separate payments when preparing the school budget for 2026.
“According to Asst. Superintendent Dubois’ calculation, over the course of the last six years, the town has failed in its MOE by over $1,000,000,” the attorney notes. “This amount may be higher if we were able to go back to when these budget tricks began as long as 14 years ago.”
Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the complaint, Piccirilli noted at a committee meeting in June that the only exception to the state’s MOE law is for nonrecurring expenses, and that those are expected to be rare. At the time, he said the commissioner has taken “a very dim view of towns trying to argue certain items of nonrecurring expenses.”
The attorney has also questioned the actions and qualifications of town Finance Director Elizabeth Beltram, who is also supposed to act as the school district’s business manager under a savings arrangement put in place decades ago. Beltram does not attended School Committee meetings as a condition of her employment, and the attorney has said that he has also had difficulty obtaining information from the town finance office, leading to the board to subpoena her for a meeting over the summer.
“Ultimately, Ms. Beltram appeared, with separate legal counsel hired by the town, but she either refused to answer questions on the advice of her lawyer, or professed ignorance as to what the MOE number should be,” notes Piccirilli.
Beltram, an accountant/financial analyst for the town since May of 2019, was elevated to the position of finance director last year. Town officials have noted that she was not in the position to answer Piccirilli’s questions about past practices as she has no knowledge of those decisions.
In his action through RIDE, Piccirilli notes that in addition to the 13 teaching assistants, the district had to lay off four certified staff this year and “make other dramatic budget cuts,” due to the funding shortfall. The cuts affect the two schools that fall under the local, but not regional school district: Fogarty Memorial and West Glocester Elementary School.
Through Attorney Timothy Robenheimer, the town issued a response memo to RIDE denying allegations in the complaint. Robenheimer could not be reached this week for comment.
maybe it is time for a FORENSIC audit of the school finances to see exactly where the YAPAYERS money is being spent
In the 1990’S the Foster Glocester Regional School system business office also handled Glocester Elementary budgets. It was a system that function more that adequately for the eight years I was on the Glocester and Foster Glocester School Committee. Since that time , possibly as late as 2014 governing forces in the Town of Glocester saw fit to separate the business offices of the of Glocester Schools and the Foster Glocester Regional School system as a savings effort to tax payers. Personal I would suggest those powers that be were engaged in a partisan rivalry not unlike our National predicament with a conservative outcome in favor of the Town non-school municipal budget. With the recent call for a Town Charter Review Commission I sincerely HOPE these funding questions can be addressed to everyone satisfaction. We cannot afford to short change our children’s education in this haphazard fashion anymore.
This is really bad especially for the students. The taxpayers are going to be stuck with the bill for this one.Thanks a lot