I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s opportunity to spend time outdoors. This week’s letter discusses the Senate commission studying the Providence Public Schools and the State’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A. The Providence Public Schools
1. The Possibilities Offered By Professional Unionism
Last Monday, the Senate Commission studying the Providence Public Schools began to review a Draft Report recommending a transition from “industrial unionism” to “professional unionism,” through which teachers and administration share authority, responsibility and accountability for the education of the children of Providence. If implemented successfully, this transition could combine progress in three areas at once: (1) increase educators’ capacity to improve educational outcomes for all students, (2) increase professional fulfillment for teachers and (3) accelerate the successful conclusion of the State takeover of the Providence Public Schools. An effective transition to professional unionism also can provide indirect benefits in such areas as faculty recruitment and retention and diversifying the workforce.
2. Challenges and Limitations
It will not be easy to bring about this transition, as it depends on the ability of both labor and management to leave their comfort zones as they replace past practices with best practices. Also, even a successful transition will not serve as a panacea that sweeps away the many other challenges facing the Providence Public Schools. With that said, the draft report makes the case that a transition to professional unionism is a necessary step on the district’s path to improved student outcomes, greater teacher fulfillment and an earlier successful conclusion to the State takeover.
3. Next Steps
The Commission has scheduled meetings for Mondays January 29 and February 5 (and, if necessary, Monday February 12) to complete its review of the draft report with the goal of preparing and approving a final report prior to the February vacation.
B. The Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council
On January 23, the Senate Environment and Finance Committees heard a Presentation by Terrence Gray describing the work of the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4). EC4 was formed to design and coordinate the work of State agencies to implement the Act on Climate, whose mandates call for successive reductions in emissions to reach “net zero” by 2050. EC4’ s current work plan includes grants to State agencies for such projects as incentives for electric vehicles and bicycles, climate vulnerability assessments and enhancing municipal participation in State energy programs. I was interested to learn that EC4 plans to prepare a grant application for $500,000 to purchase several sets of battery-powered landscaping equipment for State agencies and contractors.
EC4 has received federal funding to develop a preliminary climate action plan later this year, which will support further grant applications. EC4 is analyzing emissions data to prepare a Climate Action Strategy by December 31, 2025. The strategy will provide a specific road map to achieve the Act on Climate’s mandates. At this point, EC4 must deal with a two-year lag in receiving data aggregating Rhode Island’s greenhouse gas emissions in a usable form. This lag has complicated EC4’s ability to determine the feasibility of the current Act on Climate mandates, particularly the most ambitious out-year mandates. The Committees offered their assistance to EC4 to advance any legislation needed to carry out its critical mission