WEST WARWICK — There is “very little” that can be done immediately to stop the hemorrhaging of the School Department budget, according to an audit released at last night’s Town Council meeting.

The performance audit, commissioned by the town as a part of the Caruolo lawsuit proceedings from the last fiscal year, found that most substantial savings — $14.67 million — in the School Department budget would require concessions from the teachers union or waivers from state and federal mandates.

“These are recommendations for the future and going forward,” said consultant Salvatore Augeri. “They could cut some supplies for a couple thousand, but we’re not talking millions right now.”

But $3.5 million is what the School Department says it needs to finish the remainder of this budget year. Last month, the committee sent the town a letter requesting an additional $3.5 million in operating funds and school officials have authorized their lawyer to file a lawsuit seeking the additional money once all other avenues are exhausted.

The town manager will hand-deliver copies of the audit to the schools superintendent today to pass on to School Committee members, who have not seen the results. The report will be posted on the town Web site in the coming days.

Last night, town officials seemed disappointed that the report did not provide immediate solutions to the looming deficit the schools are facing.

“I thought that was what this report was going to do,” said Town Council member Edward Giroux. He later continued: “I think you’ve identified all sorts of possibilities and directions we could go in, and some are way out there in terms of long-term and some is immediate and some of it is mid-range. … To say you’ve identified $15 million in savings, I don’t know if that’s realistic, but it’s a start.”

In preparing the audit, analysts from the Warwick firm Parmelee, Poirer and Associates examined the school and town budgets, the contract agreement with the West Warwick Teachers Alliance and the basic education plan for the state. Their findings recommend:

•Eliminating 16 teachers by requiring the maximum number of students allowed in each class by contract, and cutting 23 other positions that are not required by the state.

•Eliminating bus monitors, lunch aides, two elementary school computer teachers and closely monitoring the overtime pay for clerical and custodial staff.

•Amending the teachers contract to allow more students in each class.

•Consolidating the Finance, Human Resource and Management Information System departments in the town and School Department.

•Adhering to the current distance requirements for busing and later expanding them by a half-mile.

•Finding other revenue sources for the $260,250 athletic program and changing the way it is operated.

•Reducing the nursing staff so there is one full-time nurse for every two schools.

•Requiring school libraries to function with fewer full-time librarians and more clerks.

•Eliminating summer school but not the extended-year program for special-education students, which is mandatory.

•Converting all full-day kindergarten classes to half-day classes, or establishing a user fee to pay for the $130,582 program.

•Obtaining waivers from the state Department of Education to defray costs for vocational education, while revising the eligibility for such programs and examining the potential of bringing the programs into the district to save $920,000.

tbuford@projo.com