PORTSMOUTH -- In one view, the School Committee has "mismanaged" the schools, signing labor contracts it can't afford and driving up property taxes to an unbearable level.

The opposing view regards the School Committee -- as well as a new superintendent -- as having made a heroic effort in the last year to deal with unexpected deficits and at the same time trim operating costs without compromising the quality of education.

These two images were laid out for viewers live on public access television last night, bringing together school and town officials and a parent representative with leaders of a citizens group that has petitioned for a Special Financial Town Meeting to cut the $32.5-million school budget.

The voters will choose one view or the other at the so-called "tent meeting" at Glen Farm on Aug. 19.

On last night's program, Newport County Forum, Sheila L. Mullowney, managing editor of the Newport Daily News, moderated the debate, which was fueled to a great extent by questions from viewers.

Many of the callers aimed their questions at Larry Fitzmorris or Jerry Cook, representative of Portsmouth Concerned Citizens, the cost-conscious citizens group that led a forceful petition drive for the tent meeting.

Answering one caller's question, Cook said the tent meeting is necessary because the 9.1 percent property tax increase enacted by the Town Council in June to finance the budget is "unwarranted."

He said the core problem is the "big annual increases" in the contracts negotiated by the School Committee.

"Those raises are way out of line with anything realistic," he said.

Cook said that if the school budget grows at the current rate, (something school supporters said would not happen) property taxes would double in eight years.

"This is characteristic of poor management," Cook said.

"Why sign a contract when you don't know the total impact of the contract over a three-year period," he asked rhetorically.

Robert Schult, a representative of the parent-run Save Our Schools, said the teachers' contract is "not negotiated in isolation but in comparison to other communities."

"You can't say, 'I don't want to pay any more' " than a certain amount, he said.

"You have to pay competitively in order to keep them," Schult said.

"You have 39 towns competing with each other, and everyone has to one-up the next. That's part of why we have gotten to where we are," he said.

David Croston, vice president of the School Committee, said the 9.1 percent tax hike in the current budget represents a one-time increase.

The hike "fundamentally restores" the financial base of school operations after the discovery of deficits totaling more than $900,000 in two consecutive fiscal years, he said.

Croston said he had been in office six weeks, and Schools Supt. Susan F. Lusi had been on the job two weeks, when the deficits started to come to light.

"I apologize for 2005-2006," he said, but he credited the School Committee with doing an "incredible job" digging the schools out of a financial hole in a "horrific year." The schools ended the fiscal year June 30 in the black.

To get there, the School Committee increased class sizes, eliminated 12.5 teaching positions, and cut back on art and music programs in the elementary schools, Croston said.

Shult and Croston said that the real problem is at the state level, which does not adequately fund the public schools.

Croston said he respected the right of the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens to petition for a tent meeting, but he objected to "half-truths" the group has advanced to buttress its position.

The salary scale in the teachers' contract, for example, is at the mid-point for the state, Croston said.

And a child attending school in Portsmouth gets $1,200 less in state aid annually than a child in Middletown, Crostson said.

While state aid to Porsmouth schools increased about $290,000 this year, the School Department's share of the teachers' pension costs rose $390,000, leaving a net loss of $100,000 in support from the General Assembly.

"The debate should not be between us," Croston said.

"We should be unified in walking up to the state and getting parity for every child in Portsmouth," he said.

Fitzmorris agreed that the state "is clearly underfunding Portsmouth."

"The problem is that if we're going to wait for a happy day when the state generates more money for the municipalities, we're in for a long wait," Fitzmorris said.

And it is unacceptable to allow property taxes to escalate until that day arrives, he said.

Fitzmorris could not tell viewers last night how much the citizens group would move to reduce the budget, saying that it is not likely the group will reach a consensus on a figure much before the meeting date.

As Portsmouth Concerned Citizens' two representatives, Fitzmorris and Cook were outnumbered on the show by those who would keep the school budget intact, including James Seveney, vice president of the Town Council.

Seveney said he and others ran for election on the basis of their support for the schools.

"Our school system serves more students for less money than many others," he said.

"We are a high-performing system, an indicator of good management, something we want to invest in," he said.

Cook agreed that "we have a darn good education," but said it was due to one reason, and one reason only. Parents care."

Croston, meanwhile, suggested that if voters reduce the school budget, they may not have the last word.

In such a case, he said, the School Committee would "probably" have to seek relief from the courts.

State law allows school committess to sue municipalities if they do not receive enough money to run the schools according to legal requirements.

The School Committee has already allocated $10,000 toward legal fees to explore this option, Croston said.

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