McCaffrey: Full $144M City School Funds Needed to Defeat Deficits

WARWICK, RI — Warwick School officials reviewed recent progress righting their FY26 budget at a special City Council meeting Wednesday, reiterating the need for $144,994,755 in school funds requested in their budget, part of the deficit reduction plan submitted to the State Auditor General.

When City Councilman Bill Muto asked how the district could ensure it wouldn’t suffer further deficits, Acting Superintendent William McCaffrey replied that delivering the full city-contributed $144,994,757 funding the school district requested, a 2.2 percent increase in city funding [not the overall 2.2 percent increase including city and state aid the city proposes] to the schools, would do the trick. That would be the first step, he said, steering the district out of deficit spending in FY29. Mayor Picozzi’s proposed budget provides $141,809,606.

“I’m not trying to threaten anyone. It’s a reality. It’s a math equation,” McCaffrey  said.

After the meeting, Sherri Kuntze, a member of the Warwick Schools Budget Commission attending the meeting, demurred when asked to weigh in on that statement.

“I don’t know that I can make an assessment on that right now,” she said.

With $49.8M in state aid, the request would result in a $198,162,060 FY26 budget, which is $3,719,153 short of the sum total Picozzi’s $380M draft budget provides. That budget already increases the property tax levy by 3.91 percent, barely below the state cap of 4 percent, leaving little room for additional revenue to work with.

McCaffrey: School funds support the whole City

McCaffrey argued the city and schools’ successes are linked, that the districts’ challenges must be decisively addressed for the city’s sake as a whole. The city of Warwick includes Warwick Schools, he said.

“It’s time to put the city first and support the schools,” McCaffrey said, “I’ve been in this district for three decades. It’s time to step up to the plate, have pride.”

After the meeting, Councilman Jeremy  Rix wouldn’t guess on the likelihood of Warwick Schools aid increasing to match the request.

“It’s an incredibly ugly year for the budget,” Rix said. He noted the city  has its own deficit of about $3 million to remedy.

“So I want to know where the City of Warwick Budget Commission is,” said Darlene Netcoh, Warwick Teachers Union president and longtime teacher.

“This is what a series of a extremely  short-sighted decisions have led us to over recent years and over the course of decades,” Rix said.

In McCaffrey’s presentation to the Council, he reviewed several slides showing the district’s challenges and steps taken to address the problems.

Cost drivers include outside influences beyond immediate local control, including inflation, contractual increases and state mandates. New organizational controls include a new financial controller, a dedicated grants controller and a new executive director of finance. Cuts include the Warwick Teachers Union contractual maximum cut of 20 teaching positions, as well as 25 positions cut from Warwick Independent School Employees Union ranks. Photos of those slides have been included below, as have copies of the proposed general city budget and school district budgets.

Warwick City Council budget hearings are scheduled to begin Monday, May 18, at 4 p.m., Council Chambers, Warwick City Hall, 3275 Post Road, Warwick, RI.

 

FY2026 WPS Proposed Budget - 5.7.25 General Fund Final FY26 budget