Cuts keep on coming as Newport, Middletown see more school funding losses in House budget
Some Newport County school districts, such as Newport and Middletown, are facing even deeper state aid budget cuts through the House’s approved 2024 budget bill.
The RI House of Representatives approved the 2024 state budget last Friday in a 68-4 vote. The budget bill (2023-H 5200Aaa) includes several changes to education funding throughout the state, including modifications to the school funding formula to better account for the concentration of impoverished families within a community and the number of English Language Learners in a community. The bill also includes an enrollment loss transition fund to help schools with declining student body populations.
None of this saves Newport and Middletown from receiving even deeper state aid funding cuts than they projected when the Governor’s Office unveiled its proposed Fiscal 2024 budget, however. According to the House Fiscal Advisory Staff’s report on the budget bill, Newport Public Schools’ state aid funding was cut by an additional $237,795 from the Governor’s proposed budget, putting the district $421,000 behind its original state aid funding projection in its draft FY2024 budget.
Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain said she and the district’s director of administrative operations, Ron Gonsalves, have seen and discussed the shortfall, but have not yet had the opportunity to study the issue in-depth when the Newport Daily News reached out to them.
Middletown and Little Compton are the only other districts in Newport County that received further cuts from the house budget compared to the Governor’s proposed cuts. The additional $47,682 the house bill cut from the Governor’s proposed state aid to Middletown marks a 6.4% decrease in state aid it received for the 2022-23 school year, a total dollar loss of $539,764. In Little Compton, the house bill slashed an additional $577 from the Governor’s proposed state aid for the town.
Other Newport County communities received more money from the House-approved budget than they originally saw from the Governor’s proposed budget, but most are still facing a state aid shortfall. Portsmouth was able to recoup $96,474 from the Governor’s original $275,031 state aid cut and Tiverton, which faced $313,253 in cuts through the governor’s proposal, was able to win back $37,837 through the house bill.
Jamestown School Department, which $361,154 boost in state aid funding through the governor’s proposal, was the only community to remain in the black following these state aid budget cuts, receiving an additional $42,103 from the house bill as well.
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The bill also gives $4 million in funding to the governor’s new Learn 365 RI program, a learning initiative launched this year of which Newport and other communities are already members.
Now that the state House has passed the budget bill, the state budget will next be heard by the state Senate.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: RI House budget reduces education funding for Newport, Middletown
