NEWPORT, R.I. – Newport stands to see a 15.3 percent reduction in school aid under a proposed statewide education funding formula released earlier today.
The long-awaited formula, which is aimed at providing state and local officials with a quantitative basis for distributing funds to school districts based on enrollment and other contributing factors, was developed by the state Department of Education in cooperation with Brown University. Currently, legislators base financial aid by previous years’ precedents with no regard for enrollment or, for that matter, any other metric.
With declining enrollment across Aquidneck Island, school districts in Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth all stand to lose out anywhere from 15 – 47 percent in annual state aid. Hardest hit would be Portsmouth, which could see a 47.3 percent, or $2.6 million decrease in state aid from its current allotment of $5.6 million. (See island blog Hard Deadlines for analysis on the implications the new formula would have on Portsmouth here). Meanwhile, Middletown, which currently receives just over $9.5 million in state aid would be eligible for $6.4 million under the revised formula, a decrease of $3.1 million, or 32.7 percent.
In all, 20 communities will see increases in funding ranging from 0.1 percent to 189 percent in Barrington, while 18 will see decreases. Lincoln, Cumberland, Narragansett and Coventry are among those communities who would benefit under the new formula, as would most of the state’s cities such as Providence, Pawtucket, Cranston, Warwick, Westerly and Woonsocket. Newport, which received $10.8 million in 2010, would lose out on $1.66 million and would be the only city in the state to receive a reduction in aid.
The funding formula comes against the backdrop of continued discussion regarding the feasibility of regionalization and consolidation between the island’s three school districts. It’s not clear at this point what affect the proposal will have on the topic, but it would seem to add fuel to proponents’ claims that it’s no longer possible to maintain three distinct school systems without heavily raising property taxes.
[Related: Study says island schools could achieve significant savings under a regionalized school system.]
Also experiencing cuts would be suburban school districts like Jamestown, North Kingstown, and Bristol/Warren. Little Compton would be the state’s hardest hit district with a 59.7 percent reduction in state aid.
Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist heralded the formula as an opportunity to establish Rhode Island as a model for the country.
“Supporting student achievement is our highest priority,” she said in a statement released on Friday. “A transparent, consistent education funding formula will allow us to ensure that student achievement remains the top priority for our state and for every school district. We are confident that this funding formula will take us from being the only state without a funding formula to being the state with the best funding formula in the country.”
Gist is scheduled to present the proposal to the Board of Regents for endorsement at their meeting on Thursday, March 4, at 5 p.m. at the John F. Horgan Elementary School in West Warwick.
“Now is the time to enact an education funding formula in Rhode Island,” said Robert G. Flanders, Jr., Esq., Chairman of the Board of Regents. “Our state needs a funding formula to ensure that we distribute aid based on what students need and not on what systems need. If we fail to act, we will compound the inequities in the current system.”
As outlined by the Department of Education, the proposed formula has three key components:
- A core instruction amount ($8,295 per student) that adequately funds student instructional needs (e.g., the cost of teachers, administrators, instructional support, textbooks, equipment);
- A student success factor that provides initial funds to support student needs beyond the core services; and
- And a state share ratio that considers the capacity of each district to generate tax revenue, based on property values, median family income, and the concentration of at-risk students.
Details of the plan still need to be worked out in the General Assembly, but lawmakers on Smith Hill have identified establishing an equitable funding formula as top priority, and a passage of a bill is possible before the current school year is over.
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Newport, RI
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