Official wants to limit student access to BVP charter school

Cumberland school committee chairman says town should cap enrollment at Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy

CUMBERLAND – Taking sharp aim at Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy, Cumberland School Committee chair Raymond Salvatore announced this week that he will be discussing resolutions with the School Committee “for the consideration of future funding” of the charter school network.

Salvatore told The Call that such a resolution might entail seeing if the School Committee could limit enrollment at Blackstone Valley Prep, which would require less funding for BVP in the Cumberland budget. The School Committee is meeting with its legal team to examine its options, Salvatore said.

The Cumberland School Committee has a regular public meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the High School Transitional Building Cafetorium.

After criticizing Blackstone Valley Prep for lack of transparency, Salvatore ended a press release by saying, “It is time for the Mayor and Council to choose sides, Cumberland Tax payers and their public schools, or the Blackstone Valley Mayoral Academy?”

The Cumberland School Committee, whose members frequently note that Cumberland has the lowest per-pupil spending of any public school district in the state, is gearing up for budget talks with the Town Council. One concern is that BVP is squeezing Cumberland Public Schools for dollars.

According to projections from school business manager Alex Prignano, charter school tuitions will be $3.8 million in fiscal year 2018 and continue rising to $5.4 million in 2022. The dollars follow the student, meaning Cumberland pays for Cumberland students attending BVP.

Salvatore wrote in his press release that the “Cumberland School Department will not

be a blank check for a private interest group where no oversight is present nor offered in how Cumberland tax dollars are being spent.”

He went on to say that more transparency is greatly needed and that “there needs to be an adult in the room safe guarding the tax payer’s financial interest.” Salvatore asserted that the the School Committee has not received audits or long-term expense reports.

The School Committee chair stat- ed that the Cumberland school system cannot meet the financial burden of both Cumberland Public Schools and BVP, and that taxpayers should not be obligated to spend millions for something on which they never voted.

He wrote, “It’s important for people to know and understand that public tax dollars foremost are meant for the Cumberland public schools.”

In response, BVP Executive Director Jeremy Chiappetta pointed out that, per the charter from the Rhode Island Department of Education, BVP is a public school.

“We are subject to open meeting laws, we take pride in our transparency, and we are open to review and feedback. Indeed, critical feedback is how we improve,” he said in a written statement. “Any public records requests we have received from the Cumberland School Committee have always been addressed.”

After noting that he also has informal communication with Cumberland School Committee members, Chiappetta went on to say, “As a Local Education Agency, BVP is also subject to all fiduciary reporting as that of any other public school/district. We have been and continue to be open to collaboration and intend to deliver on our commitment to the families of Cumberland, Lincoln, Central Falls, and Pawtucket seeking a high quality public school choice.”

Echoing some of Chiappetta’s points, Mayor Bill Murray – who also sits on the board of directors for Blackstone Valley Prep – said that BVP is clearly a public school and that all records are very transparent.

He noted that his main goal is to protect the taxpayers, and that the taxpayers are both BVP parents and Cumberland Public Schools parents.

“I support all our schools in Cumberland. I want the best for all our students and offer parental choice to all,” Murray told The Call. He said Salvatore’s press release “puts another divide when we should be working together – both my administration, the Town Council, the School Committee and the administration up at the schools – to do the best through this budget that we can possibly do.”