The school library at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School on the East Side of Providence. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
The plot is thickening in the Rhode Island Department of Education’s (RIDE) takeover of Providence public schools. It’s been five years. Providence wants them back ASAP. But neither side has offered ways to rebuild the foundations that cement the dysfunction.
Until now.
Useful ideas are emerging at the State House, with increasingly specific proposals that have actual meat on nice-sounding principles. In a true act of forward movement, Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, introduced three bills on March 7 that could really improve how Providence schools govern themselves, deploy their own resources, and maintain high quality staff.
Zurier’s bills were introduced a month after Gov. Dan McKee and RIDE outlined nine conditions the city must meet to regain local control by June 2026.
Basically, the city must provide more money, fiscal transparency, a trained and well-informed board, and improved facilities. No argument there, but where are changes to education policy per se? One condition told the city to “establish performance-based outcomes for contracts at the Providence Public School Department, such as custodial services.” Wait. Custodial contracts?!
The nine conditions seemed tone deaf to report after report. Like the Providence Blueprint for Education, which called the school district “confused about priorities.”
Like the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 2019 review that precipitated the takeover by documenting a laundry list of problems, from the majority of students performing below grade level to demoralized teachers and unsafe school buildings.
Like last year’s Senate Education Commission’s report, identifying the Providence teachers contract as a huge obstacle to student success.
Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, introduced three bills on March 7 that could really improve how Providence schools govern themselves, deploy their own resources, and maintain high quality staff.
RIDE Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green soon followed up with a substantial, detailed letter to the city clarifying and reducing nine conditions to five overarching concerns: Governance, Finances, Facilities, Legislation and a Transition Plan.
Four of the concerns have numbered and bulleted details with educational asks, like requiring the school board to shift its focus from adult inputs to student outcomes — the very heart of the matter.
But “Legislation” has only a vague sentence requesting an intergovernmental team to work on state laws “to remove legislative barriers to improving outcomes and opportunities for Providence’s children.”
While clearly anti-kid and anti-education, legislative barriers seem immutable because no one wants conflicts with our powerful teachers unions. Remember this: A public-sector teachers union is a private-sector business whose mission is to benefit and protect teachers. The laws serve adults.
Thankfully, the trio of bills from Zurier offer a better way. Here’s how:
Senate Bill No. 745 – Expedited grievance process
State law imposes a grievance procedure so onerous, administrators rarely try to discipline or fire a non-performing teacher. Unions argue they “counsel out” poor teachers with a stern conversation, and sometimes that does work. But teachers’ union dues entitle members to full-throated legal protection if they want it.
Abundant stories, now too old to threaten confidentiality, include the 80-year-old who slept through classes, but whom the union protected on the grounds that the district had not supplied adequate professional development.
The commission offers an example of the onerous process with the story of a 2014 grievance that originated with an evidence-filled termination letter to a certain teacher. After several district hearings, the grievance went to RIDE for “an appeal to a hearing officer, a review by the commissioner, a second review by the commissioner, an appeal to the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education and an appeal to the Superior Court which upheld the termination.” The Supreme Court is still an option.
Solution: End blanket protection of all teachers no matter their performance by shortening the wealth of opportunities to appeal administrative decisions. At the same time, this bill would create guardrails to protect teachers who serve students well. The guardrails legislate against arbitrary or vengeful terminations by including a list of specific grounds for reprimand or dismissal. If the shorter appeals process doesn’t work, the matter goes to binding arbitration by specified outside parties whose decision is final. These revisions are fair to teachers and create flexibility for administration.
Senate Bill No. 746. Mandatory annual salary step increases
By law, districts and their municipalities must stick to a “a salary schedule recognizing years of service” with up to 12 annual pay increase steps. This “lock-step” pay system is a throwback to the 1960s automotive factory workers’ contracts on which our teachers’ contracts were modeled. Districts can not negotiate innovative pay systems that incentivize our best teachers to stay in the profession by, for example, advancing up the salary scale more quickly by taking on leadership roles. Conversely, teachers who need to improve get the same salary bump as everyone else.
Solution: Eliminate the “lock-step” mandate so schools have the freedom to deploy their resources where they’re needed. The adjusted bill allows Providence to “negotiate alternative salary schedules” outside of the rigid factory-model uniformity, which may include other “bases for increased compensation” including paying “teachers willing to take on greater responsibilities.”
Senate Bill No. 747. Laying off teachers by seniority
State law mandates hiring, laying off and re-hiring teachers by seniority, which is to say, who has the oldest date of original hire. If student enrollment declines, unionized teachers must be retained or re-hired by seniority. Administrators don’t get to decide to keep the most effective educators on staff. It’s LIFO, or Last In, First Out.
Another old story: Years ago, the district dismissed a famously popular Teacher of the Year because his three-year probation wasn’t up yet. Senior teachers who had not been rehired by a failing school that was being rebooted (“reconstituted”) had legal rights to his job. The public hew and cry made no difference. Seniority is the law. Even if contract negotiators agree to suspend strict seniority, they invite lawsuits.
Solution: Limit LIFO, with caveats. The new bill is longer than the original 1960s-era legislation because it details what teachers might be retained regardless of seniority. They include bilingual teachers, teachers with excellent evaluations or needed skills, teachers of the year and others. For the record, teachers of color are more likely to be new, so LIFO upsets efforts to diversify the workforce.
It’s worth noting that these bills were assigned to the Senate Labor Committee instead of the Education Committee, again prioritizing adult concerns over kids.
There’s still time, though. The legislature can still make the needed changes. If not, the dysfunctional Providence district will be a hot potato passed back and forth between the state and the city, neither of which really has the tools to succeed.
If that happens, the Providence students will be right back where they were in 1993 when these problems were first reported.
Remember the local cliché: “As goes Providence, so goes the state.”
First published: RI Current News, April 21, 2025
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