RIDE Deputy Commissioner David Abbott addresses group at PMS

RI Department of Education Commissioner Gist and Deputy Commissioner David Abbott came to Portsmouth tonight for an Island-wide meeting on the state's Basic Education Program (BEP), but the majority of the questions were about the recently proposed funding formula.

"We're going to have to push for change to S3050," Gist told hard deadlines, acknowledging that some communities, like Portsmouth, were at cap, had aggressively managed per-pupil costs, and would not be able to sustain the proposed cuts. "It's not just 3050," she said, adding that changes would be needed to the whole funding system. To hear the Commissioner say that RIDE would line up behind changing the tax cap — with the BEP as leverage — was probably the best news that has come out of the last few days of school funding drama.

The funding questions overshadowed the thoughtful presentation Abbott made of the BEP, which he urged everyone to download and read closely. He stressed that the document is about "performance goals," with wide latitude left up to districts for implementation. "We're not going to be the education police," said Abbott, "As long as you're meeing the performance goals, that's what we're looking for."

And the questions about funding were not truly off base, since, as Abbott pointed out, the funding formula had been derived from the BEP. "Everything in the BEP is in the core," said Abbott, referring to the base rate for instruction in the funding formula.

There were at least two superintendents — Portsmouth's Susan Lusi and Tiverton's William Rearick — in attendance, and both asked about the particulars of the formula. Rearick queried the absence of special education and transportation costs in the core figure of $8,295.

When Abbott indicated that "prototypical district special education costs" were included, Rearick countered that in Tiverton, special education cost accounts for 24% of their budget.

Lusi noted that without the appropriate form of the appropriate form of the EWAV number or the K6 Free and Reduced Price Lunch figure it was impossible to check the calculations in the formula. Abbott acknowledged a need to be "more transparent" about the formula, and explained that the numbers had been leaked before RIDE had been able to put in place their full communication plan, and he promised that they were "getting it ready for next week."

"Just be clear that there are costs not included in that number," said Portsmouth Town Councilor Jim Seveney, "Because there are people who will be saying that's what it should cost per pupil."