Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is seen speaking at a press conference in his office on Oct. 10, 2024. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said Thursday the Providence Public School Department (PPSD) asked for $10.9 million in additional funding for the current fiscal year or Providence schools could face “dire cuts,” including athletics and layoffs. The mayor said he was given one day to respond.
The request came in a Wednesday morning phone call with Providence Superintendent Javier Montañez, Smiley said in a press conference Thursday morning in his office. Smiley described the funding request to reporters as an “ultimatum,” and its method of delivery “alarming” and “irresponsible.”
Jay G. Wégimont, a PPSD spokesperson, said in an email Thursday that Montañez’s phone call was not an ultimatum, but a heads up.
“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,” Wégimont wrote.