On the need for an education funding formula…
I campaigned, in part, on the fact that the State of Rhode Island needs to adopt a fair funding formula for eduction. For someone from Woonsocket, this is a no-brainer. We are a poor community that tends be face tough choices when it comes to our education system, and that is in the best of economic times. Facing an economic crisis like the one we’re up against now, well, we wind up looking seriously at a Caruolo action (where the School Committee would sue the City Council for more money).
In today’s ProJo, Ed Fitzpatrick covers, in good detail, our State’s need for a more equitable funding solution:
Over the past year, Rhode Island has received some unwanted national distinctions regarding its unemployment rate and budget deficit. But the lack of a current school aid formula is one distinction we can ditch quickly — preferably during this legislative session.
Aside from more unwanted notoriety for our state, there is a practical problem:
In the 1990s, the state stopped using an updated formula to distribute new school aid. Since then, lawmakers have simply reviewed how much districts received the prior year and made adjustments. In good years, districts receive 3-percent increases from the state. In bad years, districts are “level funded.” In brutal years, such as this year, districts brace for cuts.
I’ve signed on as a co-sponsor to the current Fair Funding bill. I am happy to be able to report that over half of the Reps, the majority needed to pass such a bill, have signed on as co-sponsors to this legislation. That doesn’t mean that it’ll pass, but I see this as a good sign for the future of our state and the prospect of an education funding system that factors in student population as well as need, and gives school committees a meaningful way to project their off-year budgets.
