Woonsocket Radio News Room

Chippendale Will Be Submitting Legislation to Address Unfunded State Education Mandates to Provide Fiscal Relief to Local School Districts

 

State House, Providence, RI- Rhode Island House Minority Leader Michael Chippendale, on behalf of the House Minority Caucus, is submitting legislation to help streamline some unfunded, costly state education mandates on Rhode Island school districts -- many of which do not directly enhance the core education mission or services provided to students. After listening to school committees, including the Warwick School Committee which provided a comprehensive list of concerning mandates, this legislation came into form. Eliminating certain unfunded mandates would provide fiscal autonomy to school districts, allowing local resources to fund learning programs and tools that better service student needs.

 

"Every Legislator on both sides of the aisle hears loudly from their communities about the impact of unfunded State mandates," said Chippendale.  "While our municipalities struggle to balance their budgets, just as the state does, it seems we place more and more of the financial burden on them, unfairly forcing them to spend more of their scant resources on compliance. We simply cannot view the transfer of a burden as a remedy to a funding challenge. We must take a hard look at many of these mandates and reform these state-imposed requirements while prioritizing and supporting core educational needs. The legislature needs to show our communities, in bipartisan fashion, that we hear their pleas."

 

With Rhode Island's current fiscal crisis, more strain will be placed on the state education funding formula, and thus on the backs of our already stressed tax base. This legislation would allow school districts to provide needed property tax relief, while at the same time, incentivize the state to fully fund those programs that are necessary and effective. The legislation would allow local school districts to opt out of programs and certain spending required by RIDE, that are not fully funded.

 

Examples of some of the state’s costly unfunded mandates include (represents figures only for the Warwick School Department):

 

• Curriculum - $925K

RI forces school districts to replace entire curricula with the most expensive materials from only a shortlist of “approved” providers

 

• Statewide Transportation - $3.9M

Statewide Transportation has admitted to being the costliest bus contractor. It would be fiscally responsible to allow school districts to source the most economical transportation company.

 

• Out of District Tuition - $13.84M

Towns must pay for students to attend out-of-district CTE programs, yet the state fails to track whether they actually stay in these programs, effectively allowing transfers for non-academic reasons. CTE should be fully funded by the state.

 

• SATs & PSATs - $54K

 

RI is one of only a handful of states that require all students to take the SATs and PSATs, artificially lowering state test scores as many students have no intention of attending college.