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PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Democratic mayoral candidate Angel Taveras called on the state General Assembly Thursday to create a fair, equitable and predictable funding formula for state education aid.
His remarks came as the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education was expected to endorse a new school-financing formula that would dramatically change the way the state allocates education money to local communities. The proposal requires General Assembly approval.
According to a new formula developed by the state Department of Education and Brown University professor Kenneth Wong, Providence would see a 15-percent increase in state aid for schools, from $185 million a year to $214 million.
Rhode Island is the only state in the nation without a funding formula to distribute the money that state government directs to local school districts every year. "This has to be the year," Taveras said in a statement. "Our children, our parents and our taxpayers can't wait any longer."
According to Taveras, Providence has been "underfunded by millions for at least a decade" because it costs significantly more to educate Providence children, many of who live in poverty, require special educational services, or come to school as English Language Learners.
In Providence, the state's largest school district with 23,500 students, over 85 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, over 14 percent are English Language Learners, and more than 18 percent have special learning needs.
Taveras said that because education aid is allocated based on last year's funding amounts, it does not take into account student enrollment figures, student need, and the local district's ability to raise property taxes.
As a result, districts with fewer students receive disproportionately larger shares of the education funding based on programs put in place years ago, he said.
Taveras said that without a defined formula school budgets are "based on guesswork."
The lack of a funding formula also places Rhode Island at a disadvantage for winning the $4 billion federal Race to the Top competition, designed to reward states that embrace reforms to improve schools, he said.
Taveras said he also supports the City Council's efforts to consider joining Woonsocket and Pawtucket in bringing suit against the state for their failure to properly fund public education in Providence.
