WARWICK — Custodians, secretaries and other School Department employees facing layoffs next year due to budget cuts were frustrated when they arrived at last night’s School Committee meeting and were frustrated when they left.

Members of the Warwick Independent School Employees (WISE) union said they feel as if their organization is getting hit with an unfair number of layoffs and that the fiscal mismanagement of the School Department is costing some of them their livelihood.

Assembling outside Winman Junior High School before the start of last night’s board meeting, WISE members held up signs criticizing school officials and protesting the administration’s proposal that 29 WISE-represented positions be cut from the budget for the year that begins July 1.

The $169.4 million budget proposal, which is now before the school board, is not a balanced budget; it is about $4.7 million in the red.

After being presented the budget by administrators last week, School Committee members have indicated that they will send a balanced budget to Mayor Scott Avedisian although they have not yet offered details as to how they will do that.

The board is scheduled to make its ultimate changes to the budget at a special meeting tonight and the lack of details about what exactly it will do drew the ire of the crowd last night. Tonight’s meeting will be held at 7 in the auditorium of Aldrich Junior High School.

School Committee Chairman Christopher E. Friel repeatedly said that the board’s job last night was to listen to comments and take into consideration any cost savings that were suggested. But the board’s lack of comments seemed to irritate spectators, with many demanding to know how it was going to find $4.7 million in savings overnight and wondering if they would have a chance to comment tonight.

Friel said that he would consult with his fellow committee members but that he would not be averse to allowing the public to speak at tonight’s budget adoption session. At the end of last night’s hearing, the committee went into a closed-door session to discuss personnel.

The $169.4 million budget proposed last week by Supt. Peter P. Horoschak takes into account the more than $2 million in savings the district will realize due to the School Committee’s recent decision to close three elementary schools in the fall..

It is predicated on the assumptions that the state will level-fund aid to local education and that the city will give the schools the maximum it is allowed under a 5percent state cap on tax levy increases.

The built-in deficit was not unexpected, with school officials predicting for months that they would be millions of dollars short for the fiscal year that begins July 1. There were many contributing factors including miscalculations on Medicaid reimbursements, and the single biggest item being the need to pay teachers about $4.78 million in back pay in September.

Members of the Warwick Teachers Union were present last night, questioning aspects of the budget, including the fact that it was submitted to the School Committee with 3 percent raises for administrators.

Friel stressed that nothing in the proposed budget will become a reality unless it is included in the budget the board adopts tonight.

Last week, Horoschak noted that the school district is limited as to where it can find savings since language in the teachers contract does not allow for more than 20 teachers to be laid off in any one year. In addition to proposing cuts in custodial, secretarial and other support divisions, Horoschak is also proposing eliminating some middle-management posts. The approximately nine positions he would eliminate include the program supervisors for music, art and physical education.

WISE president Cherie Nickerson said some of the union employees whose jobs would be eliminated include people with more than 30 years of service to the district.

According to Nickerson, the proposed layoffs would mean that 61 WISE positions have been eliminated over the past three years.

“Our jobs are in jeopardy, we lose our jobs, we lose our homes and more,” the union stated in a flier distributed last night. “Administrators do your share, we’ve done ours for the last three years.”

bpoliche@projo.com / (401) 277-8065