Update · October 22, 2026
The District 2 Plain-English Ledger: October 2026
This is the second edition of a monthly report on Warwick’s schools: what the School Committee decided, where the money stands, how the two new high schools are coming along, and what I would have asked if I’d been at the table. I’m on the November 3 ballot for District 2, unopposed, and I won’t take a seat until January, so this is still a report from the audience.
Two notes on sources this month. The committee met on October 13, and the minutes of that meeting won’t be filed with the state until they’re approved on November 12, so for the October items I’m working from the written packet the members received, which the district posts publicly, and I say so wherever the outcome of a vote isn’t on the record yet. The official minutes of the September 10 meeting were filed on October 14, and I’ve checked last month’s edition against them; the corrections are at the end.
The 60-second version
- Last year’s books got better. The preliminary shortfall for the school year that ended June 30 (FY26) is now $1.33 million, down from $2.27 million in the September report. About $760,000 of the improvement is the bus line. The district still calls the figure not final.
- This year’s bus money is already committed. One quarter into FY27, the $12.2 million transportation line has $957 left in it, and the September memo from the finance office said that amount “is not expected to fully cover FY27 costs.” The revised transportation number promised for October wasn’t in the packet.
- The high schools drew $14.3 million in one month. The October 7 Building Committee agenda carried the largest monthly construction payment in the project’s record. The official September minutes confirm Toll Gate at roughly half built and on track for October 2027, and Pilgrim about four months behind it, with a contract finish date of March 2028.
The money
Last year (FY26): $2.27 million becomes $1.33 million
The district’s September 2 report showed FY26 spending running $2,274,568 over its $201.4 million adjusted budget. The October 1 report puts the same gap at $1,330,458. Nothing was added to the budget; what changed is the spending side, as the finance office works through the backlog on its new accounting system. Here is where the $944,110 improvement came from, line by line.
| Budget line | September 2 report | October 1 report | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation contractors | $14,047,293 | $13,285,261 | −$762,032 |
| Regular salaries | $103,328,387 | $103,161,864 | −$166,523 |
| Technology software | $1,836,773 | $1,682,208 | −$154,565 |
| Tuition to private schools | $8,018,205 | $7,901,473 | −$116,733 |
| Snow removal, booked as an “extraordinary item” | $0 | $116,646 | +$116,646 |
| A negative balance in a retired salary line, corrected to zero | −$146,331 | $0 | +$146,331 |
| Everything else, net | −$7,234 | ||
| Total change | −$944,110 |
Spending includes money still committed on open orders, which fell from $190,679 to $10,328 as last year’s orders were closed out.
Two things I’d keep in mind before celebrating. At the September 10 meeting the finance director said the number was “subject to change as the new team works through reconciliations, pending invoices, and year-end adjustments,” and it just changed by nearly a million dollars in one direction; it can move in the other direction too. And the report’s own footnote shows that $500,000 was moved from the dental insurance reserve in May to help cover last year’s health insurance costs, so part of how the year was managed was by drawing down a reserve, not by spending less.
Whatever the final figure is, nobody has yet said publicly who absorbs it. The FY23 and FY24 shortfalls were written off by the city; the FY25 shortfall went into the five-year repayment plan. The FY26 figure will land in one of those two places, and parents should hear which.
This year (FY27): one quarter in
The budget the committee adopted in May was $203,874,517. It is now $204,945,875, which is $1,071,358 more, and the October packet explains the whole increase for the first time:
| Change since the budget was adopted | Amount |
|---|---|
| Additional state aid, received after the budget passed | $463,143 |
| RI School for the Deaf tuition (August 11) | $166,751 |
| Reinstated kindergarten teacher and assistant, Norwood (August 11) | $154,688 |
| Reinstated kindergarten teacher and assistant, Hoxsie (August 26) | $154,688 |
| Orientation and mobility specialist (September 10) | $15,000 |
| Two teacher assistants, Norwood and WELC (September 10) | $117,088 |
| Total | $1,071,358 |
So the five positions and placements the committee has added since July cost $608,215, and the new state money covers about three-quarters of that. The two kindergarten reinstatements were approved at $154,964 each and came in slightly under, at $154,688.
As of October 1 the district had spent $5.66 million, committed another $25.54 million on open orders and contracts, and paid $20.32 million in salaries and benefits through the old payroll system, which still won’t move to the new software until January. That adds up to $51.5 million, or 25 percent of the budget, at the end of the first quarter. That sounds exactly on pace, but it isn’t a pace: most of the committed money is for contracts that cover the whole year, and most of the payroll hasn’t been booked at all.
The line to watch is transportation. The First Student contract renewal the committee approved in September committed $12,202,350, and with $5,846 already spent, the $12,209,152 line has $957 of room left for the remaining nine months. The memo that came with that renewal said it would not cover the full year. The finance office said in September that it hoped to bring a revised transportation figure to the October meeting; it isn’t in the October packet, and the budget amendments list doesn’t include one.
Last month three lines were already over budget. Two of those were fixed by budget transfers: the online learning programs line was raised from $701,910 to $1,123,658, and the equipment rental line from $119,000 to $298,287. Wireless communications is still committed at $48,000 against a $30,000 line, and a new one appeared: $8,704 spent on a line called “tax liability/penalty” that had nothing budgeted. The report says both will be corrected with transfers. I’d want to know what the penalty was for.
What the district is owed
The September 10 minutes record a promise to add accounts-receivable balances to the monthly packet, and the October packet keeps it. As of September 30 the district was owed $303,637, and $141,598 of that was more than 120 days old.
| Owed to the district | Total | More than 120 days old |
|---|---|---|
| School lunch balances | $143,564 | not aged in the report |
| Out-of-district tuition (other districts sending students to Warwick’s career center) | $85,980 | $75,053 |
| WELC pre-kindergarten tuition | $69,629 | $62,872 |
| Field trips and building use | $4,464 | $3,673 |
The report says the old pre-K balances “will likely need to be written off,” and that the out-of-district tuition dispute is about a rate: starting in FY26 Warwick began billing the average career-and-technical rate per student, some districts kept paying the lower actual rate, and the office is waiting for guidance before adjusting the old bills. Pilgrim ($30,354), Toll Gate ($26,108) and Vets ($24,005) carry more than half of the lunch debt.
On the lunch debt, the packet also has the accounting the committee asked for in September. The donated money sits with West Bay Community Action, not the district, under a program called MAPS (Meal Assistance Program for Students), and as of September 30 its balance was $129,524. Put those two numbers side by side: families owe $143,564 for meals, and $129,524 donated for exactly that purpose is sitting unused because, as members said in September, the application is harder than the district’s own. The memo describes the process (a family is pointed to MAPS after being denied regular meal assistance or receiving a past-due notice) but doesn’t propose changing it.
Two contracts worth knowing about
The auditor. The committee was asked to approve the schools’ share of the city’s new audit contract with CliftonLarsonAllen: $90,400 for FY26, $92,500 for FY27 and $94,700 for FY28, $277,600 in all. The FY26 audit is the one that turns last year’s preliminary $1.33 million into a final number.
Electricity. The finance office recommended locking the schools’ electricity supply rate at 12.13 cents per kilowatt-hour for twelve months, which the district’s energy consultant estimates would save about $100,000 against floating market rates, on a line budgeted at $1.6 million this year. The consultant’s own report also lays out the case that prices may fall this winter; locking in means giving up that upside for certainty, which is a reasonable trade for a district that can’t afford surprises, as long as everyone understands it’s a trade.
The high school build
What the official record now says
The September 10 minutes, filed October 14, put Toll Gate at “approximately 50% complete” and “on track for an October 2027 finish,” with occupancy possible by early 2028. Pilgrim is “roughly four months behind Toll Gate,” with a revised completion of March 2028 and a likely move-in in summer 2028. The minutes also record the team’s statement that both projects are tracking below the 2.9 percent change-order benchmark, that about $1.5 million in unneeded allowances has come back, and that the $350 million budget “excludes several alternate items,” with a funding assessment for those expected by January.
One oddity: the minutes give Pilgrim as “35% complete” and “42% complete” in consecutive sentences. The builder’s own September payment request, which is the number the Building Committee actually approved, put it at 32 percent. I’d treat the payment-request percentages as the reliable ones.
The bills
The School Building Committee’s September 2 minutes, also filed this month, approved $13.33 million in construction payments to Dimeo: $7.29 million for Toll Gate, bringing it to 46 percent, and $6.04 million for Pilgrim, bringing it to 32 percent. The owner’s project manager reported additive change orders at 0.95 percent of the contract at Toll Gate and 2.29 percent at Pilgrim, both under the 2.91 percent benchmark. The change orders approved that day totaled $139,207 from Dimeo (practice-field matting at Toll Gate, $63,332; roof drains at Pilgrim, $47,667; conduit at the career center, $24,701; a loading dock, $3,507) and $38,560 from the architect, Saccoccio. Every vote was 7-0.
The October 7 agenda, whose minutes aren’t filed yet, carried Dimeo payment requests totaling $14,252,006, the largest single month so far, plus $1.5 million to ADS for the Hoxsie mechanical work. The change orders that day were small and partly credits: $43,205 for asbestos and electrical work at Hoxsie, $73,852 net from Dimeo (most of it a $26,783 modular classroom at the career center), and credits of $8,500 and $9,743 from two site contractors.
One thing to flag for whoever reads the October 7 minutes when they post: the agenda labels the larger of the two Dimeo draws as Toll Gate and the smaller as Pilgrim, which is the reverse of every prior month. It’s probably a labeling slip, but the minutes should settle it.
Still not funded
Nothing in the October record changes the picture from last month. The turf fields, lights and bleachers at one school are inside the $350 million. The baseball and softball fields and the rest of the alternates list are not, the refined price is due in January, and the only revenue idea on the table is the sponsorship contract, which was back on the October 13 agenda after being pulled in September. The administration’s memo recommends awarding it to the lone bidder, Sportsman Solutions, on a 60/40 split in the district’s favor, and says plainly that the finance and athletics offices don’t have the staff to run a sponsorship program themselves. I don’t yet know how the committee voted.
In the classroom
Warwick Neck. The October 13 agenda includes the resignation of the principal of Warwick Neck Elementary, which is a District 2 school. The agenda lists the position, not the person, and doesn’t name a successor. Families there will want to know the plan for the rest of the year, and I’ll ask.
Alternative learning. The committee was asked to extend its contract with the Rhode Island Alternative Academy, which runs the district’s alternative learning program at the Draper Avenue building, through June 2029. The district already provides the building, meals, utilities and technology, so the amendment eliminates the facility fee and cuts the per-student cost by $9,091 for each of 44 students, about $400,000 a year, retroactive to July 2025. From July 2027 the rate rises 4 percent, then tracks the teachers’ contract. That’s a real saving, and it’s also a reminder of how much of the out-of-district tuition line is made of contracts the committee can renegotiate.
Policies. Two policies were up for a first reading on October 13: KGA, a new one that sets criminal background checks for people in school buildings and at school-sponsored activities, and a revised JFCM on electronic devices in school. Two from September (BDDB, agenda format, and JFCL, student behavior on school grounds) were up for their second and final reading. The Policy Subcommittee meets October 27 if you want to weigh in on the phones policy before it comes back.
Redistricting and Gorton. The Superintendent’s report listed a “Redistricting Update” and a “Potential Gorton Move Update.” Neither came with a document in the packet, so I can’t tell you what was said until the minutes or the recording are out. The redistricting advisory committee that first met August 25 still hasn’t filed an agenda or minutes with the state.
Leaving. Besides the Warwick Neck principal, the agenda carried the retirement of the district’s Director of Capital Projects, in the middle of a $350 million construction program, and the resignation of a senior accountant from a finance office that is still catching up on last year’s books.
What I would have asked
1. What is the real transportation number for this year, and when does the committee see it? The whole line is committed, the memo says it’s short, and the revised figure that was promised for October didn’t arrive. If the answer is another budget amendment, the committee should know the size before the snow does.
2. Is $1.33 million the floor for FY26, and who pays it? The number moved almost a million dollars in a month, half a million of it came from a reserve, and the September 10 meeting mentioned a year-end benefits entry still to come. Once the auditors finish, does the shortfall get written off by the city like FY23 and FY24, or added to the five-year plan on top of the $7.9 million already being repaid?
3. What would it take for the $129,524 in donated lunch money to reach the families who owe $143,564? The committee asked for an accounting and got a balance. The next step is a simpler application, or a district employee who walks families through the existing one, and either of those is a decision the committee can ask for.
What was on the October 13 agenda
The minutes aren’t filed yet, so this is the list of what members were asked to decide, not how they voted.
- Minutes of the September 10 meeting and the October warrants
- Retirements, resignations and appointments, including a new assistant director of special education and a new IT manager, and a $1,900 PTA donation to Warwick Neck for a mascot costume
- First reading of KGA (background checks) and JFCM (electronic devices); second reading of BDDB and JFCL
- A presentation on the Career and Technical Center, the district’s 2025-26 goals, and a high schools update with a new project website
- Finance reports: accounts receivable, the FY26 preliminary and FY27 status reports, the amendments list, and the MAPS lunch-assistance memo
- The electricity supply rate lock
- Contracts for the assistant director of special education and the IT manager, and a memorandum with the WISE union on teacher-assistant assignments
- October change orders, requisitions and bid awards: the RIAA contract extension, the sponsorship contract (26-0023), and the audit contract (2027-057)
- In closed session: the two administrator contracts, the WISE memorandum, and an update on a teachers’ union arbitration
Corrections to the September edition
I promised to check last month’s report against the official minutes once they were filed. Three things to note. The minutes record the finance director’s preliminary FY26 deficit as “approximately $2.3 million,” where I wrote $2.2 to $2.3 million from the report and the recording; the October 1 report has since moved it to $1.33 million, as described above. The minutes give Pilgrim at both 35 and 42 percent complete, where I reported 35; the Building Committee’s own payment record says 32. And the minutes describe the lunch-debt balance only as “significant,” without the $154,000 figure I took from the recording; the September 30 receivables report now puts it at $143,564. Everything else in the September edition matches the filed record.
Mailbag
This section is for your questions. Email me at dan@herseyforwarwick.com with anything about the schools, the budget, or the buildings. I’ll answer two each month, and I’ll leave your name off unless you ask me to include it.
Coming up
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and early voting runs through November 2. The meetings below are open to the public; the Building Committee is the one where the construction money is actually approved, and it meets at 7:30 in the morning. The dates come from the October 13 agenda; the times are each body’s usual ones, because the November notices hadn’t been posted when I wrote this.
| Meeting | When |
|---|---|
| Policy Subcommittee | Tuesday, October 27, usually 4:30 p.m. |
| School Building Committee | Wednesday, November 4, 7:30 a.m. |
| School Committee | Thursday, November 12, 5:30 p.m. |
| School Committee (moved from December 9) | Tuesday, December 15 |
Check my reading
The October 13 meeting packet holds every document this edition relies on, including both status reports, the receivables report, the MAPS memo, the electricity recommendation and the three bid memos. Agendas and minutes for every meeting, including the September 10 minutes filed October 14, are on the Secretary of State’s open meetings portal, and the Building Committee’s filings are under their own entity there. The same October 1 numbers are now on the Transparency pages, line by line. If you think I got something wrong, email me and I’ll fix it and note the correction here.