TOM WARD - Leaders, be careful with new school $$

While it's far too soon to celebrate a new, more fair funding formula for state aid to education, it's pretty clear that everyone in the General Assembly finally knows that what we have today is a dysfunctional fiasco with politics at its core. The first step is to admit you have a problem, and it seems everyone in the legislature has finally come to that conclusion.

Last Friday, Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors of Cumberland and Lincoln was quoted by The Providence Journal as saying: "This is the first time in my 14 years at the Assembly that we've had such a collection of people in the legislature...talking about what is, without a doubt, the most important issue." In the room were House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, state Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and dozens of rank-and-file senators and representatives, according to the Journal.

In the fair funding proposal that has the backing of the state Department of Education's Regents, and which has, at its genesis, Cumberland Mayor Dan McKee and a group of mayors he brought into his fold, there are winners and losers. McKee hates the terminology, but it is accurate. If the state's pile of money isn't growing, the $4 million boost for Cumberland has to come from another town's pocket.

But the new formula is far more equitable, and state money - some $860 million in local aid - will follow the child on a per-student basis if it is passed by the Assembly.

Local "winners" include Cumberland ($4.1 million over five years, most in the final year); Lincoln ($3.2 million over five years, with almost $2 million in Year 5); North Providence, a modest $269,791, all in Year 1); and Pawtucket ($6.9 million over three years, all in the first three years).

There will be blowback from some of the "losing" communities, including Central Falls, Burrillville, Foster and Glocester, and most notably, Newport, where hometown Senate President Paiva Weed could scuttle the entire bill if she so chooses. I trust, however, that she will find a way to do the right thing. A purist like me may not like how this political sausage is made, but I trust it will taste good in the end.

If a fair funding formula passes, then what?

It is here I turn my attention to my hometown, Cumberland, and offer words of warning to the School Committee and parents. I give the same warning to other communities that stand to gain with a multi-year windfall.

Take what new money you get and restore programs that have been cut in the past few difficult years. Whether it was sports, music, the arts, new textbooks, or any other of the little niceties that make for a well-rounded education for our children, restore them first before beginning to negotiate that big 'ole slice of pie with the unions.

Cumberland's School Committee and its town's teachers are all to be commended for settling upon a reasonable contract that they must live with for two more years. That said, the union leaders know exactly what new funds will be coming from the state, and will rightfully negotiate for what they consider to be their fair share.

School committees in Cumberland and elsewhere should take their newfound funds, when they come, and make sure they invest them "for the kids" first.

- Ward is publisher of The Valley Breeze newspapers

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