NORTH SMITHFIELD – The School Department is not seeking an increase in its municipal budget appropriation this year, thanks to an anticipated jump in state aid for North Smithfield schools.
Supt. Michael St. Jean presented the fiscal plan to members of the Budget Committee last week, noting that while the district’s funding allocation will not be known for certain until the General Assembly votes on the state budget later this year, under the governor’s proposal, needs would be met at town schools.
“Despite an established funding formula, state aid to education is inconsistent and unknown until late in the budgetary process,” notes an executive summary submitted with the 243-page school budget document.
The summary notes that the district’s total projected education aid for the coming fiscal year is $9,506,850, marking an increase of $1,516,964 over last year, the town’s largest jump in the past decade.
“State aid is going to cover it,” St. Jean said of the school operating budget. “I think we’re in good shape.”
The superintendent noted the increase comes despite a slight drop in student enrollment – one major factor used in the state formula. The positive change, he said, is largely due to the property value increase that came as the result of the town’s latest revaluation.
“North Smithfield’s property assessments reflect market conditions, closely aligning with actual sale prices for the data period used,” notes the summary. “As a result, the town’s taxing capacity, relative to other communities, appears lower.”
Business Manager Alicia Melvin noted that the state used data from 2021, which could lead to more uncertainty regarding allocations in future years. Still, for now, “North Smithfield has hit the sweet spot,” said St. Jean.
St. Jean laid out how the district will utilize those funds, pointing to increased expenses for transportation and for education of multilingual students, as well as other growing student needs.
“We have an increasing number of case loads for students in trauma, students with anxiety, depression,” he said.
The district’s population of multilingual learners, he said, has increased from around nine students when St. Jean first came to North Smithfield nine years ago, to 57 this year.
“It’s a rapidly growing population, not just in North Smithfield, but statewide,” he said.
The superintendent said that 38 students from other districts are enrolled in North Smithfield’s Career and Technical Education Programs, a larger number than those from town attending other schools. Retention, he noted, is an ongoing goal in a state where the money for education follows the student, who has the option of enrolling in out-of-town CTE programs if the same are not offered in their home district.
“We try so hard to provide the education and services for all North Smithfield students,” said St. Jean.
The number of home-schooled students in town, he said, has jumped from 46 last year to 59 currently.
“This is not a North Smithfield phenomenon,” said St. Jean of the home school option. “This is happening throughout the state.”
St. Jean said there is also a large increase in the number of students attending charter schools, sometimes an option for those who are struggling academically.
“There are schools on the list that are significantly easier,” he said.
When the Town Council begins the municipal budget process in June, the district will hope for some capital funding to finance projects aimed at maintaining or improving current facilities. St. Jean noted that the town typically contributes $200,000 to the district’s revolving fund, an account for projects that have already been vetted and are eligible for 35 percent reimbursement from the Rhode Island Department of Education. He presented a long list of projects recently completed with the fund including window replacement at North Smithfield High School, and library renovations and installation of a generator at North Smithfield Elementary School.
“We try to cover as much as we can, as creatively as we can,” he said.
The School Department is also looking for $35,000 in capital funding to update classroom furniture, and requesting $200,000 to widen the entrance to NSES.
“It’s a nightmare traffic-wise,” said St. Jean, noting the figure is an estimate, as some work on the entrance could be performed by the town’s Department of Public Works.
St. Jean also warned budgeters that the roofs of all three town schools will need repair or replacement within the next five years – an expense for which they may want to set money aside.
“They have been patched. They’ve been repaired, but they’re also old now,” he said.
The costly installation of air conditioning at North Smithfield Middle School is also among the department’s list of long-term capital priorities. St. Jean noted that HVAC upgrades in the corridors of the building alone is estimated to cost between $343,000 and $735,000, while the third floor would cost $1.2 million to $3.7 million. The complete project is projected to cost between $4 million and $9.4 million.
“It gets brutally hot,” St Jean said.
The superintendent said that the still uncertain bump in state aid came as a relief in what would otherwise have been a difficult budget year.
“I don’t know if this is a Hail Mary,” he said of the needed boost, to be finalized amid legislator deliberations. “Right now, it seems to be holding.”
Why does the entrance need to be widened? If traffic is too much for the entrance on Providence Pike, Maybe they should open the get to Greenville Rd. Also, Providence Pike is a state road and what they have for a curb cut is all the state would allow.
NSES isn’t connected to Greenville Rd.
To reduce the need for air conditioners in June, let’s do what other RI school districts are doing, and eliminate February vacation. School can then be ended a week earlier in June.
Brilliant idea! However I will side with DT on his stance against unions on this one. It’s the teachers unions in the individual towns that fight for the two breaks.
Remember during Covid there was to be one, state wide school calendar??? Rhode Island is the size of a county in Florida.
There should be one school board for each county in the state all with the same calendar.
Unions had a time and place. Now they do more harm than good.
Just one break in march would suffice – like the rest of the country.
Decrease in population is a fact
Staff not needed and excessive unnecessary union raises are your opinion.
A fact is union st jean increased administrative staff that adds what value may I ask while reducing teachers. Also unions received raises regardless of performance or prioritization of other school needs. St. Jean has also never spent the annual appropriation and has not maintained the facility needs of the school like the roof. To ensure a building’s safety, functionality, and longevity, prioritizing the maintenance of structural integrity, HVAC systems, electrical systems, plumbing, and safety equipment is crucial. Instead money was spent on a football field, huddle pods, gym floor, bookshelves, and furniture which prove to be problematic when the roof leaked on the gym floor and may leak on the other new items. The football field has also caused problems with the school wells that is another added cost. Now St. Jean thinks taxpayers have an endless money supply and wants millions of dollars to fix an HVAC system and roofs. If St. Jean had prioritized critical issues these items could have been fixed under current appropriations. Now St Jean is requesting more money and probably still wants to build a parking lot not needed. Time to hire a more qualified administrator that understands critical and educational needs versus popular spending. Maybe NS could hire DOGE to find the waste.
Also, you cannot repair a heater into an air conditioner, no matter how hard you try.
A commercial HVAC system does include both heating and air-condition to the building.
Okay so you just have no idea what you’re talking about. There’s no air conditioning units or central HVAC of any kind to the classrooms. There are individual heaters in the classrooms that sit below the windows, that’s how they’re heated.
That’s a lot of pronouncements for someone that’s apparently never spent any time in these buildings.
Just another fact the hvac unit is just above the cafeteria at the middle school that is deafening when you are having a meeting in the cafeteria. I spoke with the facility manager about the issue 10 years ago and he told me they installed the ac unit incorrectly due to a reduction in the budget which was never addressed to the contractor to fix the issue.
I also recently heard a very interesting story about teacher bullying not being addressed.
I also forgot to mention that Mr. St Jean has built up a $2.7 million fund balance over the years that he needs to use for capital improvements and do the best with the funds he has already appropriated. As a taxpayer I am getting tired of Mr. St. Jean cry wolf and asking for significant increases when he never spendings the annual budget appropriation.
Well said DT, it’s only going to get worse when our new tax assessments hit after the now complete revaluation.
Mr. St. Jean has to realize that it is to bad that it gets hot. In the 70’s and 80’s we all went to school with no air conditioning and survived. We have also survived at the middle school since being built poorly because someone shaved $1M off the original bond budget to build a football field. Also note that I looked up the temperature for this past September in NS and there were zero schools days with a temperature over 80 so brutally hot is an exaggeration. Another point is as I drove by the middle school at 5:00PM on a rainy 45 degree day I saw 5 window open with all the lights in the class rooms off and no one in the building just wasting heat and letting the rain seep into the building. Second the town cannot afford between $4 million and $9.4 million because you feel zero responsibility to the taxpayers with a range that is ridiculous. Maybe you could have done some repairs to the current HVAC system on a more realistic budget but you felt wasting $1M on a football field more important. We also need to mention the comment on all three roofs need repair but Mr. St. Jean found it more important to replace the gym floor instead of fixing the roof and then the new floor was damaged when the roof leaked. The issue I have with Mr. St. Jean is he is not qualified to manage the school buildings and find low cost options to make fiscally responsible repairs. We also have a school committee that lacks any financial and business experience to evaluate bids and facility needs.
Now let’s comment on the student enrollment. The student population in NS is going down from 2002-2010 the average enrollment was 1852, from 2011-2020 the average was 1726 and from 2021-2025 the average was 1635. Now since Mr. St Jean has taken over the education spending went from $24,275,387 to $32,288,341 in FY26 or a 33% increase but school enrollment has gone down -5.3%. The school ranking has also dropped from 9th to 15th in the state of RI. So what has all of the increases in spending being used for when the school buildings all need millions of dollars in repairs and student enrollment is going declining.
Now we also have to realize the fact that the state budget has not been approved and will not be approved until June of 2025. So the state funding increase in all likelihood will disappear with the proposed cuts being made by Donald Trump go into effect which makes up 15-20% of the state funding budget. The state already has a $225 million deficit with an additional $31 million just being cut from the Department of Health budget by Mr. Trump. So any thoughts that the town has surplus money to fund additional education funding is just being misinformed. Mr. St Jean should be thinking about program cuts to lower the budget due to state spending cuts because NS taxpayers cannot make up the potential large shortfall from state and federal funding. I really think it is time for NS to move on from Mr. St Jean and find a more well rounded Superintendent.
May and June both regularly see temperatures over 80 degrees including in 2024
Your numbers are also misleading as you’ve failed to account for inflation. Accounting for inflation, $24m in 2016 is equivalent to $32m today.
You forgot to adjust the decrease in student population, increase in administrative staff not needed, waste and excessive unneeded union raises.
I didn’t, as I was simply pointing out your misleading numbers.
DT,
it can be in the 80 degree range outside, but when you are in an enclosed space, with a lot of sweaty students, add lights, limited air exchange, it is warmer in that classroom. Stale A good example is as in a car, never leaving an animal in it or child for example. Gets warmer inside with no air flow, sun or lights shining. Kids get sleepy in heat, not up to par to learn well. We did it as kids, but kids have heavier work loads and more complex learning than yesteryear as to what is taught now.
And add the mask requirement, you are raising the CO2 level in the brain by not having sufficient air intake. I am surprised there weren’t ppl passing out during that COVID mask stuff.