OPINION/LETTERS: Middletown council must take control of school spending
Middletown council must take control of school spending
Last spring the Middletown Town Council was fed up with the School Administration’s aggressive defiance and attempts to hide a $1.6 million over-expenditure - a surprise bill for Middletown taxpayers. The council appropriately ordered a forensic performance audit of the School Department’s finances and voted no confidence in the School Administration.
The audit never happened and last week the School Administration told the council they would need a $2 to 3 million budget increase this year. The school superintendent’s explanation for the increase was poor; it was littered with uncertainties, excuses, and obscure analyses involving declining numbers of students, special education realignments, immigration and continuing substandard performance.
The Middletown Town Council is losing control of this year’s school budget conversation. It needs to reestablish its credibility in dealing with its unaccountable school administration. The performance audit must be conducted and the results published before the council continues school budget discussions. The audit will provide a path for accountability, answer questions about the school administration's failures to manage their budget and hopefully assure the public that there is no fraud, waste, abuse, malfeasance or ineptitude in financial operations.
Middletown students and teachers are suffering the continuing decline of our government-run schools and citizens are billed. Perhaps the council’s ordered audit will provide a framework to stop the suffering and make Middletown schools affordable.
Paul Mankofsky, Middletown
Nursing home staffing requirements are a dangerous decision
I am writing this letter in response to the article in The Newport Daily News on Jan. 17 regarding the Health Care Workforce Crisis and the Newport County Community Health Collaborative, NCCHC.
Overall I thought the article was an accurate and good representation of the current crisis in health care nationwide and most noticeably on Aquidneck Island. This crisis has been developing for years and was amplified by the pandemic closing most if not all workforce development programs for more than two years.
I would strongly agree with one comment that this problem has been made worse by a lack of leadership in our government. Workforce dollars need to be expanded and a well-thought-out education effort needs to be developed to inform and attract young people, those unemployed and under-employed to come to healthcare careers. Unfortunately, as I continued to read I was disappointed at the reference to nursing homes as a “less desirable outcome for a citizen, costs the state more money and is still the subject of the same staffing and cost issues.” Sen. DiPalma should be aware that nursing homes are subject to more cost issues than any other healthcare entities due to the law passed by our legislature requiring minimum staffing mandates that if not met will bring significant civil money penalties to almost every nursing home in R.I.
These penalties in R.I. will amount to many millions of dollars. This is happening just as this article addresses at a time when there are no staff to be hired. I would consider this as reckless behavior on the part of our legislature and if carried out will result in nursing home closures.
Our island nursing homes represent about 510 beds and approximately 750 healthcare workers providing essential, high-quality care not only to our island seniors but others that need a transition between hospital and home. Let’s be clear if given a choice we would all like to live out our years at home.
Unfortunately, some people do not have that option. Community services provide limited in-home care. Our nursing home residents require 24-hour care. Comparing apples to apples let’s see who “costs the state more money.” Nursing home reimbursement amounts to about $12.50 per hour of care. This includes ALL services.
Stop for a moment and reflect what would happen to hospitals, social service agencies and families if nursing home care was not available. I would suggest you ask the thousands of families who have experienced a loved one in a nursing home and listen to their great appreciation and happiness with the care they received. It appears the proof is in the experience. A review of third-party administered family and resident satisfaction scores and the NationalQuality Indicator scores of our nursing homes show that Rhode Island ranks among the highest in the country.Please stop marginalizing our nursing homes and start acknowledging the important work done by them and their healthcare workers. When we elevate and respect all healthcare providers as equal members of the healthcarecontinuum then we can work collaboratively to solve this workforce crisis.
Hugh J. Hall, former chair Rhode Island Health Care Association
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: LETTERS: Middletown council must take control of school spending
