It Is Not Time for Mayor Smiley to Take Providence Schools Back

It Is Not Time for Mayor Smiley to Take Providence Schools Back

The performance of the Providence Public System cratered during former Mayor Jorge Elorza’s administration.  A devastating audit of Providence public schools by Johns Hopkins University in 2019 revealed the Providence Public School system to be one of the worst performing in the entire country.  Having the State take control of Providence schools, many whispered, is what Mayor Elorza, Mayor from January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2023, and an advocate for charter schools, wanted all along. He finally gave up on Providence public school students and invited the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to take control of the school system in 2019.  It's not his worry anymore.

Fast forward to the present.  The RIDE Commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, ruled in August 2024 that RIDE would continue to run Providence schools until June 2027.  She and her appointed Providence School Superintendent, Dr. Javier Montanez, also indicated that Providence has been underfunding the schools since Elorza was Mayor.  RIDE took the city to court, and the Rhode Island Superior Court agreed and ruled that the city needs to increase its funding for the schools.

Mayor Brett Smiley inherited this mess.  Residents complain that the City schools have all sorts of problems, but because he isn’t in charge, Smiley can’t do anything about the problems.  The State wants to stay in charge, but Infante-Green wants to keep her hand in Providence’s till, and not let Providence decide how the money is spent in the schools.  And by the way, Providence taxpayers are now staring at a major tax increase on July 1 for their public schools that the State will continue to run.  Elorza helped get city and state capital funding to renovate the school buildings, but he also consistently underfunded the yearly operation of Providence schools for several years to avoid tax increases.  The Providence taxpayers are now going to be paying the overdue bill.

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Is there any wonder why Mayor Smiley is perturbed and is seeking to take back control of his school system?  He has introduced legislation into the current General Assembly session to return Providence schools to Providence control on July 1, 2025.

 

Why Should Providence Take Back Control of Its Public Schools?

There is no doubt that the Providence school system was underperforming when Elorza handed over the keys to RIDE.  Elorza had other priorities, like charter schools.  So, State takeover seemed inevitable to Providence school parents, to the Providence City Council, and to the General Assembly.  Something had to be done, why not entrust the school system to the State?

I would contend that the state and city should now be working aggressively and cooperatively on a plan to enable the city to take back control.  Here are three reasons for moving towards Providence control of Providence schools sooner than June 2027.

 

RIDE Performance

RIDE Commissioner Infante-Green contends that Providence is not ready to take control of its school system and that there will be a “backslide”.  That contention pre-supposes that there have been significant gains in the performance of Providence schools under state leadership.  That is not the case. After 4+ years under RIDE, there have been only minimal gains in Providence school performance.  Here are some of the dismal numbers:

 

--Providence public school enrollment declined from 21,700 students in the 2021-2022 school year to 19,856 in the 2023-24 school year.  That’s a loss of almost 2,000 students in two years.  This decline is not just about lower birth rate in Rhode Island. Providence public school parents are voicing their opinion of RIDE’s leadership with their feet.  They are taking their kids out of the Providence school system.

 

--RIDE can’t figure out how to get Providence students to attend the public schools.  Thirty-six percent of Providence students were chronically absent in the 2023-24 school year. Does RIDE contend that a 36% absentee rate is progress?   Students are voicing their opinion of RIDE-administered Providence schools by staying home.

 

--Providence public school students’ academic performance is still woeful.  Less than 15% of Providence elementary and middle school students are at grade level in math and science; only 17.5% are at grade level in reading.

 

Disconnect Between Policy and Financing

It is crazy to have Providence taxpayers funding state-appointed policymakers for our schools who are not accountable to Providence taxpayers.  While the State takeover of Providence schools required drastic action to improve the performance of the schools, the legislation guiding this takeover is flawed.  You can’t have one government—Providence—paying for another government—the State—to have carte blanche decision-making powers.  The legislation should have structured some type of cooperative agreement between Providence and RIDE on budget making and funding with some type of mediation to resolve differences quickly for each budget year.

The present arrangement is an unworkable disconnect resulting in previous underfunding by the Elorza administration, a recent Hail Mary/extortion request by RIDE to get Providence to find millions of dollars in the middle of a budget cycle, and expensive litigation that forced Providence to take millions of dollars away from other city departments.

 

The result:  RIDE looks like an extortionist; Providence leaders are mad because they had a gun put to their heads; embarrassed Providence residents wonder why Providence can do so many things well but can’t operate a basic requirement of local government—its public school system; and Providence public school students and parents wonder why their school system is so broken.  The only winners:  the lawyers, of course.

 

RIDE Does Not Appear to be Equipped to Understand the Impact of It Decisions on Providence Residents:  Some Examples.

 

--Providence parents have the option of school choice, which means they can apply to their neighborhood public school (where they receive priority); to another public school; or to a public charter school.  The problem:  the charter schools make their decisions in March; the public schools make their decisions in June.  So, if you are a parent, how to do you roll the dice?  RIDE has not fixed this problem to the detriment of parents who want to make the best decision for their children.

 

--RIDE is proposing to close schools all over the Providence district; merge schools, demolish some schools; renovate some schools, and build new school buildings. It’s a mind-boggling expensive set of non-transparent decisions that are often changing from one month to the next and rationalized by giving our students “a 21st century educational experience.”

 

The impacts of these decisions, which Providence leaders are expected to passively accept, are enormous.  Sensible school renovations are often rejected for new shiny expensive buildings with long-term debt payment issues for Providence taxpayers.  And all these decisions affect neighborhood residents.  Community ties, land use, increased bussing, are just some of the neighborhood impacts not considered by RIDE when it decides to close neighborhood schools.

 

--Providence has a public school student population that is approximately 40+% non-English speaking.  To accommodate many of these students who struggle with English in their classes, RIDE continues to use an ESL (English as a separate language) approach where classes are conducted in English and students receive additional instruction in English in separate classes.  It’s not working and contributes to student embarrassment, frustration, and chronic absenteeism.

 

One Providence public school, the Leviton School, in the Elmwood neighborhood is a DL (Dual Language) school where classes are taught simultaneously in Spanish and English.  The performance of this school (38% of its students are at grade level for math) and its lower absenteeism rate is one of the best of any Providence elementary school.

 

RIDE has not yet figured out how to hire and train more bilingual teachers to replicate the success of Leviton Dual Language in other Providence schools.

 

Why Providence Is Not Ready to Take Control of Its Schools on July 1, 2025

Mayor Smiley has recently made his mayoral choices for a new hybrid Providence Public School Board.  He has also convened an ad hoc education cabinet to have a Plan completed in April which will justify the City taking over the public schools on July 1st.  I totally agree with the Mayor in his goal to give Providence students a first class public school system.  I just don’t think he can pull it off by July 1.

There’s too much for the Administration, the City Council, and the new School Board to dive into and learn before July 1.  There’s an enormous homework list that Providence needs to get up to speed on before it takes over the school system.  Here’s just a few of the questions that need to be examined:

 

--Should the RIDE school closing, school renovation, and school re-placement plan be modified?

 

--How can parent engagement in the schools be improved?  What do school parents want to see in the schools?

 

--How can we begin getting more schools involved in dual language teaching?

 

--Why are some Providence schools performing better than others?

 

--How can we reduce bussing and rely more on neighborhood schools?

 

--What is the current teacher’s union contract?  What should the City and union be discussing about changes in it?

 

--Is the current senior school administration staff adequate to meet the challenges of the school system?

 

--Is the school budget adequate?  What changes are needed going forward?

 

--What is the school culture in Providence schools?  How should it be improved?

 

--What changes are needed in the City’s HR, Finance, Public Property departments, and Mayor’s staff to resume operation of the schools?

 

The above items comprise a lot of homework for Providence leaders to do in the next fiscal year. It can’t be done by July 1, and we will have a successful school year in 2025-26.  

Instead of submitting legislation to take over Providence schools on July 1, 2025, Mayor Smiley should submit legislation that requires RIDE to work with the City of Providence in the coming school year.  The legislation should provide joint decision-making on key issues like the budget and school closings; provide milestones for certain changes in Providence City government to enable the City to resume operation of the schools; and should provide training of the new Providence School Board.

 

Mayor Smiley has a great opportunity to transform the school system into a system that will produce good education for its students, that will attract families and businesses to move to Providence, and to make Providence residents proud of their schools.  The Mayor has to get a lot of buy-in from RIDE, the General Assembly, the City Council, the School Board, the unions, and school parents to be successful.  It’s going to take time, cooperation, diplomacy, and perseverance.  Our students deserve it.

 

“In dark times, some people crave comfort.  In dystopic times, some people reach beyond themselves, and create something that might comfort generations.”

Melena Ryzik, New York Times   June 7, 2020