By Barbara Polichetti
WARWICK, R.I. -- About 200 people turned out for Tuesday's City Council meeting to hear school officials make a case for increased local funding of Warwick schools in the coming fiscal year.
School officials stressed that while their proposed $160.6-million budget is up only about $1.3 million from this year's spending, they need nearly $4 million more from the city.
The reason, they said, is that in recent years their budget has been supplemented with infusions from a past surplus and that money is now depleted.
School Committee Chairwoman Bethany Furtado said that the city has not increased its funding for schools at all over the past three to four years and the district can no longer do "more with less."