Meeting ad bill to come to E.Greenwich council vote
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EAST GREENWICH, R.I. -- The Town Council is to vote Wednesday (tonight) on whether to endorse General Assembly legislation that would eliminate the requirement that school committees publish their meeting agendas in newspapers. School Committee Chairwoman Jean Ann Guliano has been pushing to eliminate what she regards as unnecessary state mandates that affect the schools. She has also lobbied for legislation removing the requirement that all buses for middle school and high school students have bus monitors. All School Committees are required to take out advertisements in a local or statewide newspaper to inform the public about the issues they will address at their next meeting. City and town councils are not. At least five bills in the legislature propose changing the school committee requirement to make newspaper publication voluntary. Rep. Patricia Serpa, D-West Warwick, the chief sponsor of one of the bills, said it was the result of a study commission looking at old unfunded state mandates "that made sense [when they were drafted] and don't necessarily make sense now." "In the 1970s, there was a good cause for School Committees to publish in the newspaper," she said. "Municipalities and schools didn't have Web sites. There weren't public notices on cable television. We think those are all low-cost or no-cost alternatives to publishing in the newspaper." In addition, the Secretary of State's Web site posts meeting agendas and automatically sends notices of upcoming meetings via e-mail. Although Guliano testified that a change in the law would save East Greenwich $20,000 a year, Maryann Crawford, the School Department's director of administration, said that figure is for all newspaper advertising, including help-wanted ads and bid notifications. Publishing School Committee meeting notices costs the town about $1,800, in part because East Greenwich has two weekly newspapers competing for the ads. Communities that must advertise in larger papers pay substantially more. Providence spends about $1,000 per month, School Department spokeswoman Christina O'Reilly said. "I know the newspapers object strenuously. I understand that. We're all struggling," said Serpa. "But even if [the savings] is a matter of several thousands of dollars, it could mean the difference in whether to fund a girls soccer team or a boys wrestling team. We think it's a better use of taxpayer money." Because city and town councils don't have to advertise their meetings in the newspaper, she said. "It's two different sets of rules here. It's an expensive inconsistency." Tonight's meeting will be at 6 p.m. in Town Hall. gemery@projo.com / (401) 277-7442 
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