Glocester council authorizes joint meeting with school committee and auditor general amid heated deficit debate

The Glocester Town Council on June 18 voted to authorize the council president to invite the full school committee and the Rhode Island auditor general (or a representative) to a joint meeting to address an operating deficit in the Glocester school district that residents and some councilors said reflects multi-year budget problems.

Public speakers and several councilors described a multi-year pattern of budgeting errors and alleged inappropriate use of funds. Residents cited a current roughly $345,000 shortfall and urged the council to seek an external audit or state fiscal oversight. "They've been using money that they should be using," one resident said during the hearing, calling for accountability and an audit.

Patricia J. Henry, chair of the Charter Review Commission, read the commission’s memo and pointed to the town charter’s forfeiture clause (C6-3.2), which she said provides a mechanism if school committee members “violate any express prohibition of this charter.” Council members discussed legal constraints and remedies, including RIGL 45-9, which allows the state to appoint a fiscal overseer if a district meets criteria for fiscal distress.

Council members also reviewed correspondence: a letter from the school committee’s counsel asking that any corrective-action meeting be scheduled after key staff return, and an opinion from the Rhode Island Department of Education that raised questions about whether voters may reduce a district’s expenditure budget by a specified dollar amount. Councilors said the legal opinion from RIDOE would likely be appealed and that factual context omitted in the RIDOE letter should be part of any formal review.

After debate, the council approved a motion authorizing the council president to send a letter inviting the full school committee and the auditor general (or a designee) to meet with the full town council as soon as practical to discuss the deficit and possible corrective steps. Councilors said the meeting should be joint (full council and full school committee) and asked that the auditor general or a representative attend.

What’s next: The council will propose dates to the school committee and the auditor general’s office and expects to receive a more complete corrective-action plan and fiscal documentation; councilors signaled they will pursue legal and financial-review options if the joint meeting does not produce an adequate plan.