PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has informed ABC6 that the superintendent of the Providence Public School District called him with a 24 hour ultimatum of providing the district an extra $10.9 million. “Asking, as they have asked before for additional funding for the Providence Public Schools,” Mayor Smiley said. “And warning of dire cuts if the city did not produce additional funding, and he gave me a 24 hour deadline.” This came with a warning of dire cuts if funding could not be met, and the mayor described this interaction as “alarming and irresponsible.” “This is the latest chapter, sadly in a longer discussion we’ve been having with PPSD about their current budget and financial challenges,” Smiley said. The mayor added that he need to respond to Superintendent Dr. Javier Montañez on an “accelerated timeline.” He added that the city will continue to pass financial budgets, but the school district needs to do the same. According to the Smiley, the city increased funding this year for the school district, giving it its largest increase in 17 years. The budget was passed, and as the mayor explains, “that’s all he can spend in the fiscal year.” Smiley said he is committed to giving an extra $1 million to the district under two conditions. The state must increase their contribution to the district in the same proportion, as it is responsible for 71% of the district’s funding. Under Smiley’s request, the state would need to pay $3 million to the district. The other request is that the district needs to accept an outside financial audit. “I am deeply frustrated the way about which they continue to try to extract additional funds from the city,” Smiley said. The school district released the following statement after Smiley spoke: It should not be controversial to invest in Providence’s children. Superintendent Montañez, as the leader of the district, has long advocated, as he should, for the city to meet its legal obligation for local funding contributions to address the financial strain PPSD is facing. With an unprecedented growth in student needs and an insufficiency of funding resulting from the city’s failure to comply with its statutory obligations, the superintendent alerted the mayor that a budget presentation would be made at Wednesday’s School Board Finance Committee meeting that would cover the district’s pressing financial challenges and additional measures PPSD would be forced take as a result of the insufficiency in funding from the City. Although the mayor purports to be concerned about communication and collaboration, the fact that his office held a press conference addressing to the superintendent’s advocacy, without providing the superintendent with any notice, says otherwise. That said, PPSD remains steadfast in its position that the city must invest in Providence’s children in accordance with its statutory obligation. It’s worth noting that, since the intervention, the non-PPSD portion of the city budget has increased by $88 million for other city departments while the contribution to PPSD has gone up by just $5.5 million. The mayor told ABC6 the Providence Public School District has around a $550 million budget. “I had the conversation with the mayor and I made sure I said we have a legal obligation is what we need to meet our student’s needs, and the student’s needs continue to grow,” Montañez said. “We have made some difficult decisions and difficult cuts. If we don’t meet this $10.9 million deficit there will be additional cuts that are going to impact our students.” Mayor Smiley also said he has reached out to Gov Dan McKee about the issue, and only reached his chief of staff, but they plan to speak on the issue. Categories: News, Rhode Island