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Providence City Council leaders to address school funding battle

Sakege October 30, 2024

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A battle over school funding in Providence is coming to a head as the city and the RI Department of Education face off in court again Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Mayor Brett Smiley called a press conference announcing that the Superintendent of Providence Public Schools, Javier Montañez, gave him 24 hours to respond to his request to give the district nearly $11 million in city funds beyond what has already been provided in the current budget yearwhich started on July 1st.

Montañez questioned whether his call to Smiley was an “ultimatum.”

“In fact, I called for transparency and open communication prior to the Providence School Board Finance Committee meeting, where I planned to speak publicly about the impact of the city’s lack of investment,” Montañez wrote in a letter to Smiley on October 11. .

MORE: Smiley slams Providence school leaders over $10 million, 24-hour ‘ultimatum’

The city is already contributing $135.5 million to public schools in the current school year. However, the school district believes the city owes them “a minimum total allocation” of $164.8 million under the Crowley Act.

The superintendent said at the time that the state-run district would begin taking “mitigation measures” if the city did not provide the $10.9 million.

Those proposed cuts included eliminating all sports programming, furloughing central office staff and administrators, laying off non-union staff, withdrawing contributions to the revolving capital fund, and making “deeper job cuts or freezes in schools.”

But 24 hours came and went.

The mayor offered the district an additional $1 million in unbudgeted funds from recent agreements with Lifespan and the Rhode Island School of Design in exchange for a $3 million match from the state. Smiley also requested a third-party audit of the school department’s finances.

In a PowerPoint presentation, the district accused the city of investing in areas other than schools, “despite funding obligations to the school department.”

On October 16, the city filed a complaint with the RI Superior Court in an attempt to block a request that RI Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green had made to state Treasurer James Diossa to withhold $8, 5 million in auto tax refund payments from the state to the city.

Providence City Council members are about to hold a press conference “related to school funding” after Tuesday’s court hearing.

Alexandra Leslie ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and in Facebook.

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