By a 5-1 vote (with 1 abstention) the Portsmouth School Committee tonight approved a budget for the 2010-2011 school year of $37.2M, a 2.51% increase over last year, driven largely by a jump in health care costs and step increases.

The gap between expenditures and revenue — if you've followed along in previous years, these are the "cuts yet to be identified" — is about $580K (compared to last year's $97K or the the $168K from this point in 2008).

The proposed budget is as close to flat funding as possible, according to finance subcommittee chair Mike Buddemeyer. "Not one school asked for an increase," said Buddemeyer. "Any increase is all non-discretionary required by regulation or contract."

For the one "no" vote, appointed school committee member Cynthia Perrotti, it was still unacceptable. "There was no sense of fiscal restraint," she said, arguing that the subcommittee should have pushed for reductions. "It's almost as if the school department feels they are entitled to go to cap," she said, referring to the S3050 property tax cap which limits the increase on the levy to 4.5%, a total revenue increase of $1.2M.

Ms. Perrotti was also "vehemently opposed" to the $350K technology warrant, mentioning in particular earmarking $75K to equip teachers with laptops as part of the district's strategic plan. Her larger point is well taken: in an ideal world, technology would be funded through the operating budget. But since we don't live in that world, at least one parent from the audience rose to question her assertion that "we should do away with the teaching and learning [tech] warrant."

Yeah, that was me. As parent volunteer on the technology committee, I pointed out the importance of giving teachers the tools to drive tech usage in the classroom, and argued that this was exactly the kind of "strategic" investment the district should be making. And as a parent who has sat through these budget hearings for four years now, I disagreed strongly that going to cap was an irresponsible assumption, given the history of cuts and the results of our performance audit.

With Angela Volpicelli abstaining (since she hadn't been at the subcommittee meetings and only got the document today) the committee approved the budget to be submitted to the Town on Thursday.

In other activity this evening, the committee unanimously approved a resolution by Marge Levesque expressing grave concerns about the proposed RIDE funding formula.

"The committee wishes to make it knowm that we disagree strenuously with the RIDE funding formula. Although we acknowledge the necessity of and moral obligation to raise up less fortunate communities, we think it is unfair to do so at the expense of others. We encourage the General Assembly to 1) have RIDE's proposed formula reviewed and critiqued by one or more national experts; and 2) review alternative means of calculating state share ratios."

Levesque expressed concern that the economic disadvantage adjustment was being factored in multiple times: first, in the .4 multiplier for Free and Reduced Price Lunch, and again in the calculation of the weighted assessed valuation, since it was calculated using median income.

Portsmouth Concerned Citizens president Larry Fitzmorris rose to support the resolution, arguing that it was a "wealth-shifting scheme" and noting that all the losing communities were in the East Bay.

I also addressed the committee, and while urging them not to be obstructionist, (since a fair formula was in all our best interests), supported the need to inquire into the method of calculating the state share. Regular readers will know what I think about the $8,295 "core instruction" amount and its tenuous relationship to actual costs in Rhode Island schools.

The motion passed 7-0, and will be circulated to the other school committees and councils to seek support.

And in a rare and wonderful respite from all this budget discussion, high school teacher Joseph Cassady and senior Kelsey Shanklin were on hand to talk about what is hopefully the start-up year of a Model United Nations program at PHS. In the Model UN, students study a country in depth, and do live-action roleplays as representatives of that country in a simulation of the UN. It requires research, analysis, writing, critical thinking, civics, and presentation skills, and is a wonderful preparation for the kind of project and team work in today's business world.

Driven by Shanklin as a senior project, a group of 12 students formed two teams and competed in the regional event at Boston University in February, representing Venezuela and Belarus. "I suddenly found myself in the role of a teacher," said Shanklin, describing her coaching of teammates. Senior Joseph Futoma won honors in his room, which Cassady told me later was a rare achievement for a first-time participant. (The whole team should probably be recognized for their ingenuity: according to Cassady, when Futoma was captured by FARC rebels, they busted him out. Some of these political simulations can get pretty real.)

The school committee recognized Cassady, Shanklin, Futoma, James Boyadjian, Katie Schultz, Grace banks, Rachel Yates-Berg, Hanng Petrie, Katie Struckman, Adam Whalley, Mary Duckett, and Rebecca Mutty for their participation in the BU program.

I think the Model UN is an awesome program, and asked Cassady if they hope to continue it next year. He seemed quite willing, but noted that it depends on student interest.

Full disclosure: I am a volunteer member of the school technology committee.