Town Solicitor Andrew Teitz ruled earlier this week that the budget committee’s consideration of the school budget is in accordance with state law.
Teitz gave his response at Monday’s Town Council meeting. The school committee had previously questioned whether the budget committee’s approach to handling the annual appropriation, which called for dividing the figure into two parts: state contribution and town contribution, was legal.
The school committee, in a letter sent to budget committee chairman Jeff Caron last month, argued that the divided appropriation figure would allow the town to lock in its contribution without having to make up for any shortfall in state aid.
Rhode Island law allows for a minimum appropriation by a community for approved school expenses that calls for “an amount which together with state education aid and federal aid shall not be less than the costs of the basic program during the reference year.”
Teitz said this [...]

Original post by Derek Vital