Councilor Dennis Canario addresses school committee.

In a classy move, both of the Democratic Town Councilors who voted to exceed the cap and fund the schools came to the School Committee meeting last night, and while Jim Seveney watched, Dennis Canario went on record with the suggestion reported here yesterday, that citizens start the process for a town-wide budget vote.

After making clear that he was speaking only for himself and not the Council, Canario urged school supporters to consider the budget referendum. "Once the budget is passed on July 14," said Canario, "Anyone can start a petition, put this question on a referendum ballot and let the voters decide what to fund." It would only require about 1,400 signatures, he said, and it could take place in late summer or perhaps get rolled into the September primary. "We could get this done fairly quickly."

"I didn't know this existed," said Cynthia Perrotti, the school committee member appointed by the Town Council. Now I know it's possible that Ms. Perrotti might have missed the kerfuffle around the last Tent Meeting and the citizen movement (Led by Sal and Chris Carceller) that replaced the tent with all-day voting, but, seriously, this is in the Town Charter. Section 208 paragraph 7. Perrotti has read the Charter, hasn't she?

She also seemed a bit fuzzy on what a Caruolo action is. When chair Dick Carpender asked for the committee's assent to retain counsel for the sole purpose of understanding the "process and timelines," Perrotti moved to table.

Perrotti's description of a Caruolo action: "That's when you sue the town to get the money in the budget. Whatever the Town Council gives the School Committee, your philosophy is to not go with whatever number they give you but whatever the school committee wants." Again, I'll suggest some reading for Ms. Perrotti, RIGL 16-2-21.4, which clearly sets out the standard: "The school committee shall have the right to seek additional appropriations by bringing an action in the superior court for the county of Providence and shall be required to demonstrate that the school committee lacks the ability to adequately run the schools for that school year with a balanced budget within the previously authorized appropriation."

Carpender took pains to explain "I'm not saying that's what we're going to do," and added that he wanted to keep the "spirit of cooperation" with the Council in place. "I don't want to see this happen.," said Carpender, but stressed that the committee had an obligation. "If the town went to referendum and it failed, we would still need to do something. We can't just abdicate our responsibility. My hope is that everything works out."

Elected Republican school committee member Mike Buddemeyer agreed. "I too want to keep spirit of cooperation in place," he said, "But I have no problem directing Dr. Lusi to retain counsel for understanding proper procedures." Even visiting Town Councilor Dennis Canario didn't have a problem with this purely exploratory action, saying, "I don't take offense to hiring an attorney, what you're doing is protecting the hard work that you've done."

Still, Perrotti, joined by Angela Volpicelli and Marilyn King, voted to table, and when that failed, voted against the motion, which explicitly capped expenditures to under $5K.

You can imagine that PCC, Inc. President Larry Fitzmorris got up to attack the committee's actions. "Hiring Mr. Robinson, who is the acknowledged expert, sends a very clear signal to the council and the people of this town that you are preparing a Caruolo suit."

(You know what sends a real signal? Check out the PCC's letter to the Town Council this week arguing that the warrants the schools use for building maintenance and technology "are a violation of the State constitution." Since those warrants are going to be discussed at tonight's Town Council meeting, if you're a school supporter, you'll want to be there.)

One Portsmouth resident, Nancy Zitka, took the podium to provide some historical context. "I completely agree that it [Caruolo] would be a terrible thing, but it's prudent for the school committee to line up their ducks in a row," said Zitka, adding, "Had the PCC not requested that we cut $1.2M, the school committee would never have had to file a Caruolo action in the first place."

In other business, the school committee took no action on any of the cuts the Finance Subcommittee had investigated and brought to the joint session Monday night, pending indication from the Council about the bottom line they were going to be aiming for. Perrotti's motions to cut $350K, and then $142K both failed 4-3, with Perrotti, King, and Volpicelli in the minority.

The next meeting of the Town Council will be 7pm tonight at Town Hall, and funding for school building and technology warrants is almost certain to come up.

Save Our Schools organizers Dave Croston and Terri Cortvriend circulated this e-mail to supporters this morning:

Understanding the tedious nature of these meetings, there is a Town Council Meeting that will address the School Debt line-item this evening at 7:00 in the Town Council Chambers. The Council will first vote provisional budgets on all other Town Departments, concluding with School Debt (so a long night). Saying that, we expect the Town Council to cut the existing rolling warrants; here to for, two $350,000 warrants for technology and buildings. If the Town Council cuts the warrant line items, these expenses would fall to the School’s operating budget. For instance, text books are considered a capital item by our auditors and are carried in the debt warrant. This only exacerbates the already contentious debate on the school budget. This system has worked well for the Town for the last decade.

Please join me tonight to stand up for proper school funding and support for debt warrants that are critical to the proper and safe operation of our school system.— SOS e-mail

Disclaimer: It's clear I'm over the line into partisan territory here. No contest. I'm just getting tired of some folks on the school committee acting like they're extra members of the Town Council.