Dear Neighbors:
I hope you are enjoying our best Spring weekend yet. In this week’s letter, I discuss legislation concerning Providence Public Schools that the Senate Education Committee will hear this week.
1. The Takeover and the Return to Local Control
The State assumed control of the Providence Public Schools in 2019 for a five-year term, extending it in 2024 for an additional term of up to three years. As noted in my May 25, 2025 letter, the City proposed legislation last year to end the State takeover as of last July 1. The Commissioner opposed this legislation, asserting that local authorities were not ready to assume that responsibility. The City submitted legislation this year to mandate a return to local control as of this July 1. On April 8, the Senate Education Committee heard the City’s proposed legislation. At that time, witnesses testified that local and State authorities were negotiating phased timetable for a return to local control over the next school year.
2. The Purpose of the State Takeover
These debates and negotiations are significant; however, I believe they miss the most important issue; namely, what is best for the children who attend the schools? More specifically, as documented in 2019 Johns Hopkins report and the 1993 PROBE Report that preceded it, even with the best efforts of many educators, the Providence Public Schools contain structures that stand in the way of providing a quality public education to every child. The goal of the takeover was to implement reforms to ensure better outcomes when local control returned. A simple return to local control today because the local authorities believe they are ready might not be sufficient by itself to improve outcomes for Providence students.
3. The Senate Study Commission
The Senate established a commission in 2023 to study and make recommendations concerning some of the salient issues identified in the PROBE and Hopkins reports, namely the working relationship among teaching professionals and division of responsibility among the central office, the school leadership and the classroom teachers. The Commission’s Report, as summarized in this Slide Deck, found that Providence Public School education professionals would be best served by developing a culture of shared accountability, moving beyond the adversarial relationship common in industrial labor-management settings. The Report concluded that such a transition could lead to better student outcomes while also providing greater professional fulfillment for educators. The Report recommended a wide range of reforms, including the removal of legislative barriers currently existing in Rhode Island laws. The Report’s legislative reforms are featured in Senate Bill No. 2934, which the Education Committee will hear this week.
4. Bill S-2934
Bill S-2934 contains three sections as follows:
· Section One would permit the Providence Public Schools to develop a “career ladder” for its teachers, allowing them to be rewarded for professional excellence and the willingness to take on additional responsibilities. This Section revises the current law’s requirement that compensation be tied strictly to years of service without regard to the needs of students or a teacher’s unique professional skills.
· Section Two contains two reforms.
o The first removes the current mandate that all reductions in staffing resulting from declining enrollment be carried out exclusively on the basis of seniority. If enacted, this would allow the Providence Public Schools to consider other criteria that would better align the faculty’s professional skills with the specific needs of the school’s student population. Rhode Island’s current “seniority only” law is a national outlier. The proposed reforms are based on the law of Massachusetts.
o The second establishes a program of expedited due process for the review of teachers whose performance does not meet professional standards. Current law requires multiple layers of review that can require years to bring about resolution. Based on the law of Massachusetts, Section One would establish an arbitration process enabling these decisions to be made fairly and promptly.
· Section Three contains a set of expectations associated with a July 1 return of the Providence Public Schools to local control. They include: (i) that the School Board will devote its primary focus to student outcomes, (2) the School Department will adopt policies and procedures to promote labor-management collaboration and site-based management and (3) the City will provide generous local education funding above and beyond the bare minimum “maintenance of effort” required under State law.
If enacted, the reforms contained in S-2934 offer tangible ways ensure that the Providence Public Schools can support better education outcomes for students and greater fulfillment for educational professionals than had been the case prior to the 2019 State takeover.
5. Senate Consideration
The Senate Education Committee will hear Bill S-2934 this Wednesday afternoon (May 20) at 4:00 p.m. in State House Room 313. You can attend to testify in person, or you can submit written testimony by emailing it to SLegislation@rilegislature.gov.