In a web newsletter this morning, the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC), the statewide affiliate of the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens (PCC), ran a celebratory piece on yesterday's defeat of the school budget referendum, spotlighting the PCC's work in defeating the measure, and attacking all the local Democratic candidates, as well as Portsmouth superintendent Susan Lusi.

The membership of the PCC voted unanimously on September 7 to oppose the Referendum proposal, and the taxpayers group subsequently launched a vigorous campaign to defeat the budget increase. The PCC cited the existing department surplus of approximately $1 million and the current recession as reasons to reject the proposal.

The Referendum was scheduled after a group of citizens, supporting a higher budget for the Department, successfully raised a petition of approximately 1,500 signatures to place the proposal on the ballot. If successful, it would have increased the school budget by $765,301. School Superintendent Dr. Susan Lusi led an extensive public campaign in support of the proposed budget increase, with all Democratic candidates for Council and the School Committee publically supporting the measure. Council member and candidate Dennis Canario originally proposed the Referendum to the Committee.— RISC newsletter, 10/6/10

The PCC like to talk about transparancy [sic], but they made their plan to defeat the referendum at a secret meeting to which only members are admitted and executed their "vigorous campaign" in the last weekend, offering no time for response or dialog.

Despite multiple debunkings of the "$1 million" surplus (see here, for example), they continue to use this talking point. And notice that they are now going directly after the Superintendent, Dr. Lusi, characterizing her attempts to set the record straight as an "extensive public campaign." Can there be any doubt now about the nature of the "management changes" the Republican candidates have called for?

Full disclosure: I am a Democratic candidate for Portsmouth school committee, and I supported the referendum.

By a 57-43% margin, the voters of Portsmouth defeated a referendum question which would have restored $765K cut from the school budget by the Town Council. Turnout was strong, with 3,888 votes cast, and the proposal to restore the budget lost by substantial margins in every precinct. Portsmouth Patch has the full breakdown.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Dave Croston and all the Save Our Schools volunteers who waved signs, carried petitions, honked horns, talked with neighbors, and, most important, kept telling the truth. We can hold our head high knowing that we did our best, and we took the high ground.

This was an amazing display of participatory democracy — the first referendum in Portsmouth history — and we should acknowledge and celebrate the work we all put in. I'm proud to have been part of this effort.

The voters of Portsmouth have spoken. Tomorrow, we will begin to move forward from here.

Be just, and fear not.

Transparancy is the new objectivaty.

If you're anything like me, you woke up yesterday with a plastic bag of rocks on your front lawn.

Inside the bag was a colorful sheet of paper with some equally colorful, highly decontextualized factoids: Statistics. Percentages. Numbers. Nowhere on the page did the authors identify themselves, although one could infer, from the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens (PCC) membership form on the back, that they were involved.

In addition to the charming "gift bag," the PCC also appears to have been responsible for inserts in the Sakonnet Times and the Newport Daily News, as well as, according to a quote attributed to president Larry Fitzmorris in Portsmouth Patch on Friday, putting up signs around town.

By my back-of-envelope reckoning, that's well over a thousand dollars worth of advertising expenditures. Not counting the rocks. Why on earth would they spend that kind of money?

You can believe, if you wish, that they deeply care about transparancy [sic], and that all the innuendo, air quotes, and ellipses are just their way of setting the record straight. You can believe that the school committee and Save Our Schools willfully withheld information. You can even believe that evil, greedy unions are orchestrating all of this.

Or you can believe the truth.

Four years ago, with the S3050 tax cap, the anti-tax forces saw a rare opportunity. During 2006, the year that set the benchmark tax levy, the PCC orchestrated a Tent Meeting. And they cut $1.1M from the schools (and half a million from the Town.) Only about half was restored to the schools, despite accounting testimony that more was needed, because Caruolo actions do not have any lookahead: the court only aims to provide funding sufficient for the current year. And so, the district began its journey down the path of ever-tightening tax caps with a structural deficit.

You know how those anti-tax folks like to talk about how COLAs compound? Well, cuts compound too. Every year, instead of getting a percentage of that extra funding, the schools have had less. Less money for late buses. Less money to keep Prudence open. Less money for school nurses. Less money for Elmhurst. All fruit of the same poisoned tree.

And now, they have the chance to do it again.

Next year, the new RI Dept. of Education funding formula will cut $207K from Portsmouth's school budget. And every year, for the next ten years, we will lose an additional $207K, until we are in a two million dollar hole. Imagine how sweet it would be to repeat that moment of triumph, and build a structural deficit into the school budget again. If you are a fan of small government, you are rubbing your hands and cackling with glee like some stereotyped cartoon villain.

Let's not repeat our mistake. Tomorrow, please vote for Option 2, and erase the deficit. This time, let's at least start out at zero.

Full disclosure: I am a candidate for Portsmouth School Committee.

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

This letter to the editor from Portsmouth school committee chair Dick Carpender also appeared in yesterday's Newport Daily News.

To The Editor;
Tuesday, Portsmouth voters will vote on a final School budget. I believe it is essential that the funds be restored and I know there are others who disagree. I respect their right to that opinion. However, I urge voters to carefully review the information that is being cast about by some who would like to see the referendum fail. School Committee nember Cynthia Perrotti, School Committee candidate Jonathan Harris, PCC President Larry Fitzmorris, as well as Town Council candidate and PCC member Joe Robicheau, and John and Eloise Stalk have disseminated information that is inaccurate, misleading, and blatantly false.

School Committee member Perrotti says that we should just except what the Town Council gave us and make it work. She says that we should raise co-pays and increase deductibles. These will be addressed during negotiations. She indicates neither teachers nor Committee have done enough. However, she fails to mention that our labor force has made concessions in the last few years saving the taxpayers approximately $700,000. She says we have to get the right number of teachers in the classrooms although our elementary and middle school classes are maximized. Perrotti thinks High School classrooms should have 25 students even though it has been explained to her on numerous occasions why that won’t work.

School Committee candidate Harris says there is a $517,000 fund balance even though it has been explained on numerous occasions why there is only $117,000. He accuses the School Committee of hiding numbers even though they were discussed in public sessions that he did not attend. He says that the School Committee is going to take a few hundred thousand dollars and stick it in the drawer for next year. Clearly he doesn’t understand the budget process or long term implications.

PCC President Larry Fitzmorris and Town Council candidate Joe Robicheau take it one step further and say there is a million dollar surplus without giving any breakdown. I don’t know where that number came from but I can assure the reader that it is blatantly false.

John and Eloise Stalk mention 9 different assertions about the budget, the surplus, how much teachers make, how much the budget has increased, longevity pay, health care, etc. Every one of them is false and misleading.

On September 28th the Governor announced that Portsmouth High School ranked number 1 in the state in 11th grade Science NECAP testing and Portsmouth was one of only 4 cities that improved at all levels. An outstanding accomplishment.

My goal on the School Committee has always been to provide the best education possible for the students of Portsmouth – nothing else should be acceptable.

When considering your vote I ask that you consider the facts and reject inaccurate assertions by others that have a goal other than providing something less than the best education for our students.

I ask you to vote in favor of the Budget Referendum.

E. Richard Carpender
Chairman
Portsmouth School Committee

Full disclosure: I am a candidate for Portsmouth school committee.

Portsmouth School Committee candidates from David Wolfenden Productions on Vimeo.

The video from the Portsmouth School Committee forum held by the Newport Daily News on Thursday night was posted to Vimeo this afternoon, followed by the Town Council candidates.

Portsmouth Town Council candidates from David Wolfenden Productions on Vimeo.

Editorial note: I've embedded these videos directly from Vimeo where they are hosted; they are not marked with any restrictions against embedding (indeed, you can go to the video URL and download it.) You can also view these videos on the Newport Daily News video page, where they are also embedded from Vimeo.

Full disclosure: Obviously, I'm in the School Committee video, and I hope you'll watch it, particularly to hear how all the candidates answer the question about Tuesday's referendum which begins at about the 12-minute mark. I was very glad to make it to the forum; I've had a bad respiratory infection, and I spent Wednesday getting a chest X-ray and blood work which determined it was "probably" not pneumonia, but I've been pretty much out of action all week. Sorry to have missed all the fun at Homecoming today.

This letter to the editor from Vern Gorton ran in yesterday's Newport Daily News. I felt it said something important about our schools and our community, and I asked Vern if I might reprint it here.

To the editor:
I started composing this letter in my mind Friday night. I was not at the kitchen table but at Portsmouth High School watching the PHS football team play LaSalle. It was right after halftime and I thought: if only every resident could be here before they voted at the October 5th referendum.

I had come to see my daughter and her fellow defending state champion cheerleaders perform perfectly timed, choreographed routines — at heights which make her mother nervous. They were great. I had come expecting an exciting game between two excellent football teams. I was not disappointed. What I did not expect was the spectacular halftime show featuring the marching band and color guard performing a mock pirate battle across the length of the field complete with costume changes, swords, cannons and a moving pirate ship, (paid for by Band Boosters). Truly impressive and all put on by dedicated teachers, coaches, staff, boosters and most importantly, students who have to maintain their academic credentials in order to participate.

It was a wonderful example of a vibrant, diverse and imaginative school community offering solid programs in academics, theatre, music, visual arts and athletics. Friday nights are the essence of this debate, the roots of our community, and the bright futures of our kids.

We are dangerously close to no Friday nights – no lights, no pirate ship props, no stands jam-packed with students and adults... just silence. That is not what Portsmouth stands for.

What do those who support the schools in the referendum seek? We are asking for a 1.5% increase in funding from last year. The Schools have made cuts across the board to present a lean budget to the Town Council — a budget increase less than the rate of inflation. I want Friday nights for us and our kids. I want to be proud of the diversity in our high school where an artist or a musician, a scholar or an athlete can find what excites them to learn.

Our kids deserve full-year arts and music in our elementary schools. As a lifelong resident and PHS graduate I am proud of Portsmouth, proud of our schools, and our community. Join me in maintaining Portsmouth, as we know it, by voting for Option 2 next Tuesday.

Vern Gorton

Tomorrow is the last day to register to vote in the Portsmouth school budget referendum on October 5, and the canvasser's office in Town Hall will be open from 8:30am to 4pm.

If you're already registered, you don't have to do anything. But if you're a new voter, take a few minutes out of your Saturday to stop by Town Hall. We need every vote — we know those opposed to funding our schools will be turning out their base.

Stay safe and dry tonight, and have a great weekend, everyone.