District overview
Foster-Glocester Regional School District
A regional district whose budget is set at an open town meeting, and where voters cut it
Who sets this district's budget? The people in the room.
Foster-Glocester Regional School District serves two small towns and does not have its budget voted by a council. It goes to a Regional Financial Town Meeting, where any qualified voter who turns up can speak, move amendments and vote. In March 2026 the district asked for $33,091,080, an increase of $882,853 or 2.74 per cent. Voters rejected it, 103 to 133. When the meeting reconvened on April 14 a resident moved to cut the increase away entirely, holding spending at the previous year's $32,208,227 and reducing the towns' appropriation to $17,903,688. That passed 125 to 108. Everything the school committee has done since has been about absorbing that cut: rejecting teacher layoffs 9-0, asking the state education department to rule on whether the town meeting motion binds them, and putting alternative cuts on the table.
Voters decide, in person
Two Financial Town Meetings in three weeks decided this budget. Fewer than 250 voters were present at each, and the outcome swung between them.
The dispute is unresolved
On May 18, 2026 the committee's own motion to approve level funding of $18,058,039 failed 4-5, and it asked the state education department to rule on the town meeting motion.
Teachers were the first thing protected
The committee rejected proposed teacher layoffs 9-0 while the ruling is awaited, but approved separate layoffs caused by the special education collaborative dissolving.
A cell tower helps pay for trips
The district holds a cell tower rental fund, around $75,000 to $86,000 through the year, which it draws on for student trips and competitions.
The argument is fierce but it is happening entirely in public, at meetings any resident can attend and vote at, with the canvassers counting heads in the room. That is unusual, and it is the reason the record for this district is so unusually detailed about who said what.
Where the district stands
Down from the $33,091,080 the district proposed, a reduction of $882,853 holding spending at the FY2026 level.
Down from $18,058,039, a $154,351 reduction reflecting a water bond dropping off.
125 in favour of the cut, 108 against and 3 non-votes. Calculated from the canvassers' report in the April 14, 2026 minutes.
Foster-Glocester files unusually complete minutes, including verbatim-style records of the Financial Town Meetings.
Major projects
The FY2027 budget standoff
unresolved; awaiting a state rulingVoters cut the budget back to last year's level; the committee has refused to lay off teachers and asked the state whether the cut binds it.
- Business manager says the district will not ask for an increase
- Financial Town Meeting rejects the budget 103-133
- Reconvened meeting cuts spending by $882,853, 125-108
- Solicitor asked to contact the towns' solicitors about the meaning of the motion
- Teacher layoffs rejected 9-0; level-funding motion fails 4-5
Funding
Local appropriations from Foster and Glocester set at the Regional Financial Town Meeting, plus $5,643,498 of state education aid
Leaving Northwest Special Education
withdrawn; replacement being arrangedThe four-district shared special education service is dissolving, and Foster-Glocester is arranging its own inter-district agreement.
- Foster notifies the commissioner of its withdrawal
- Committee votes 8-0 to withdraw, with an option to rescind
- Inter-district agreement for special education services taken up
- Layoffs approved 9-0 because of the collaboration's dissolution
Funding
Within the operating budget; the dissolution produced its own layoffs, approved separately from the FY2027 dispute
Heating and hot water replacement
awardedWater heaters at both Ponaganset schools and a middle school boiler are being replaced, designed in 2025 and awarded in 2026.
- Architectural and engineering fees approved for water heaters at both schools and a middle school boiler
- Water heater bids approved including $428,140 to Phalanx; options evaluation commissioned
Funding
Capital project funding; design fees capped at $15,800, $14,500 and $45,000 and construction awarded at $428,140 to Phalanx
Independent investigation
commissioned; subject not publicThe committee hired the Honorable William E. Smith to conduct an independent review investigation. What it covers has not been made public.
- Executive session suspension hearing for an employee; no votes taken
- Committee votes 8-0 to engage the Honorable William E. Smith to conduct the investigation
Funding
Not stated in the collected record
Recent news
Built from every Foster - Glocester School Committee meeting notice, agenda and minutes filed with the Rhode Island Secretary of State's Open Meetings system between September 2, 2025 and August 4, 2026 - the statutory record under R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-46 - including the two Regional Financial Town Meetings, together with the National Center for Education Statistics for district identity and enrolment.
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