SOUTH KINGSTOWN â In less than two weeks time, community members will have finally answered the question of whether the high school will stay or go, but until then, tensions continue to run high.
The community seems bitterly divided over whether to approve the $85 million plan and relocate the South Kingstown High School to Curtis Corner, or reject it and head back to the drawing board at Columbia Street.Â
Many have already chosen their camps, but for those still on the fence in this debate, both sides make their arguments.Â
When Superintendent Linda Savastano first proposed the idea of relocating the high school to Curtis Corner a year and a half ago, the new site was meant to lend itself better to 21st Century learning spaces, and give the community more of a high school campus.
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SOUTH KINGSTOWN â The School Committee adopted its budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Tuesday, which if approved by the council, will mean appropriation increases of 1.89 percent.Â
According to Chief Financial Officer Raquel Pellerin, the overall budget increase of 2.8 percent will amount to a little more than $1.5 million in spending from one year to the next. Pellerin said this yearâs municipal appropriation request of $57,053,074 was largely driven by contractual increases, and is about a million dollars more than last yearâs request.
As Superintendent Linda Savastano pointed out, the majority of school funding comes from the town, though much smaller revenue sources like state aid and grant programs will also help cover the districtâs $67,079,680 budget. That number, she said, is directly tied to fiscal and educational goals.Â