Gov. Dan McKee and Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green have laid out nine goals the city of Providence must meet in order for the state to consider handing schools back to local control.
The Providence Public School District has been under the state’s control since 2019, following a review by John Hopkins University that found the majority of students were performing below grade level, teachers were largely unsupported, and many facilities were deteriorating.
“When exactly the transition will occur depends on the preparedness and the capacity of local leaders,” Infante-Green said in a new conference held at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Providence on Monday. “I want to stress that it is based on the preparedness. It is not like turning on and off a switch. That’s not how this works.”
Infante-Green said Providence could regain control of the school system next year, if it meets the following criteria:
- The city must support empowering the Providence Public School Board.
- The Board must vote to commit to two years of training by a Student Outcomes-Focused governance coach.
- By Fall 2025, the board must have spent at least 50% of its meeting time discussing and monitoring progress toward its goals in partnership with the school superintendent’s office.
- The city must agree to honor its settlement agreement with the state that increased local funding to the schools.
- The city must provide further public details about how much funding it intends to provide PPSD through the 2030 fiscal year.
- The city must work to usher all school construction projects currently in Phase 2 and Phase 3 on track for completion.
- The city must make a public commitment to deliver new or like-new buildings for all PPSD students.
- The city must make a public commitment to establish performance-based outcomes for contracts at PPSD schools, such as custodial services.
- The mayor’s office must partner with the City Council, RIDE and PPSD leaders to involve community voices in the transition plan, including strategies to better serve marginalized students, such as multilingual learners.
The deal between the city and state reached last November followed a judge’s ruling that said Providence must pay a higher contribution towards its schools, even though they’re still under state control. The city must contribute an extra $15 million of funding for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. The city is also committing to $11.5 million more in fiscal year 2026 and additional funding after that.
Infante-Green and McKee emphasized the importance of collaboration between the city, the governor’s office and the state education department in realizing these goals. Mayor Brett Smiley, who has been eager to get schools back to local control, was not present at Monday’s news conference.
“I knew that was going to come up. We have said that we’re going to open up conversations with the new school board, with the municipal leaders,” McKee said when asked about Smiley’s absence. “That’s in my letter that the school board members will receive before they start their deliberations on Wednesday evening.”
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio.
