Town finagles summer pay for teachers

WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - The West Warwick School Department says it will borrow from its budget for the upcoming school year to make overdue summer payments to its teachers.

Superintendent Kenneth Sheehan tells The Providence Journal that the 320 teachers will receive their accrued pay no later than Monday.

The teachers union filed a grievance after the school department was unable last month to issue summer paychecks totaling $1.8 million.

The schools face a $3.3 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, plus a potential $700,000 deficit for the current fiscal year, which covers the upcoming academic year.