Supt. Susan Lusi provided more facts in a message distributed on the district listserv this afternoon.

Addressing Partial Information and Misplaced Assertions about the Portsmouth Schools

Partial Information:
“Graduation rates slid from 96.8% to 86.6% from 2006-2009.”

The Rest of the Story:
Comparing 2006 to 2009 is not apples to apples: The State of RI changed the way it calculated graduation rates in 2008 due to changes made at the federal level. This change in the formula resulted in a 19 point drop in statewide graduation rates, as well as drops in every school in the state. For more information go to: http://www.ride.ri.gov/Commissioner/news/pressrels/2008%20Press%20Releas...

Partial Information:
“16% of 11th graders scored poorly on standardized tests last year.”

The Rest of the Story:
Portsmouth High School had the second largest gain in the state in 11th grade math and scored third highest overall. We need to keep improving and no one wants 16% of our students scoring poorly; but improvement and achievements should also be recognized.

Partial Information:
“From 2007 to 2009, Portsmouth’s per pupil costs rose 13.7%; Newport 3.9%; Middletown 2.2%.”

The Rest of the Story:
Portsmouth’s per pupil costs remained the lowest of the three island communities in 2009: Portsmouth - $11,960; Middletown - $13,679; Newport - $17,153 (RIPEC Consolidation Feasibility Study, p. 34).

Partial Information:
Barrington teachers have been paying a 20% healthcare co-pay for years.

The Rest of the Story:

• Newly hired Barrington teachers have been paying 20% since 5/1/06.
• All Barrington teachers went to 20% as of 7/1/09.
• Barrington teacher salaries have been higher than Portsmouth’s in all of these years.
• Portsmouth is in negotiations, giving the School Committee the opportunity to re-examine both salary and benefit packages.

Assertion:
Reducing sports, music, and art to our children will only save $66,000; the remaining $700,000 is earmarked for salary increases.

Facts:

• Wrong on all counts.
• The reduction in art and music at the elementary level alone saves $60,000.
• The total budget for athletics is approximately $300,000 for coaches, officials, transportation, supplies, and staff salaries. There is also another $45,000 in afterschool activities at the middle and high school levels.
• There was nowhere near $700,000 budgeted in salary increases even in the original School Committee budget submitted to the Council in March. In the revised budget, the salary line is almost $75,000 less than the same line was last year.
• EVEN IF THE REFERENDUM PASSES, THE TOTAL AMOUNT THE TAXPAYERS PAY IN SALARIES THIS YEAR WILL BE LESS THAN IT WAS LAST YEAR.

Assertion:
The School Committee failed to disclose a $400,000 budget surplus from FY 2010 until all the referendum signatures were collected.

Facts:

• The projected fund balance was reported on all year in the monthly financials presented to the School Committee. The May 2010 financials that were given to the School Committee at its meeting of June 8, 2010, show a projected surplus of $244,499.
• The June financials and unaudited year-end fund balance for FY 2010 were given to the School Committee at its meeting of August 10, 2010. (For reference, the similar June financials for the prior year were presented to the School Committee on August 18, 2009, so there is nothing out of the ordinary about the timeline.) The Summary portion of the memo states: The 2010 budget should finish with a surplus in the $200,000 to $400,000 range, from one-half of a percent to one and a quarter percent of the budget, consistent with recent monthly forecasts.
• Parties making the assertion above have latched on to the highest end of the projection before an audit has even been completed. This is something like spending your tax rebate in advance, before your tax advisor has even told you if you qualify for all of the rebates you are hoping to receive.
• We will have our audit results for FY 2010 in January, as we have for every other fiscal year. The School Department anticipates using $200,000 of the FY2010 fund balance, if available, toward the FY 2011 fiscal year, consistent with the 5-year financial plan the administration has presented, just as we used $200,000 this year and the prior year from the respective fund balances. Otherwise, we will have a $200,000 revenue hole going into next year, in addition to the more than $200 K we will lose with the State’s new funding formula. Our 5-year plan also shows using fund balance in years going forward.

Assertion:
After the School Department filed a Caruolo action, the Medicaid Reimbursement account of around $230,000, “magically” appeared on the Department financial disclosure filings before the court.

Facts:

• Wrong.
• The original 2006-2007 school budget submitted to Town Council had $175,000 of Medicaid revenue budgeted, and Medicaid funds were budgeted in the prior fiscal year as well. The Caruolo action required getting an updated statement of projected Medicaid reimbursements during the course of the fiscal year. Based on those statements, an additional $100,000 of Medicaid reimbursements was added.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE TOMORROW. POLLS ARE OPEN FROM 7 AM TO 8 PM.

Susan F. Lusi, Ph.D
Superintendent
Portsmouth School Department