Skip to main content
H 7318Funding & Budget

Education - The Education Equity and Property Tax Relief Act

Increases the state financial bonus for regionalized school districts to 6% and makes the funding permanent rather than temporary.

Held for study
Population
Affected
45
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 23, 2026Committee House Finance

Plain-English Summary

This legislation modifies the "Education Equity and Property Tax Relief Act" to significantly change how the state rewards school districts that have regionalized (merged). Currently, regionalized districts receive a small, temporary financial bonus that expires after two years. Under this bill, regionalized school districts will receive a regionalization bonus equal to 6% of the state's share of their foundation education aid. Crucially, this bonus is no longer temporary; it becomes a permanent, ongoing payment for every year the district remains regionalized, starting in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. This applies to both existing and future regional districts.

For younger readers

Schools get money from the state to help pay for teachers, books, and buildings. Sometimes, towns join their schools together to make a bigger district, which is called "regionalizing." Before, the state gave these joined-up schools a little extra money as a prize, but only for two years. This new rule changes that. Now, if schools join together, the state will give them a much bigger prize—extra money every single year, forever, as long as they stay together. This helps these schools afford more things for students without asking their parents for as much money.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Regional School DistrictsPublic School StudentsProperty TaxpayersSchool AdministratorsTeachers' Unions
Impacted communities
Charlestown, Richmond, Hopkinton, Foster, Glocester, Exeter, West Greenwich, Bristol, Warren

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Provides a stable, permanent stream of additional funding to public schools, protecting education budgets from austerity measures and ensuring better resources for students.
  • Incentivizes the pooling of resources between towns, which can lead to more equitable access to specialized programs, technology, and facilities that smaller, individual districts could not afford.
  • Reduces the financial pressure on local property taxes, which is a regressive funding mechanism that disproportionately burdens working-class homeowners and renters in lower-income regional communities.
  • Allocates extra state funds based on administrative structure (regionalization) rather than student need, potentially diverting resources away from the poorest urban districts that are not regionalized but require the most support.
  • Consolidation of districts can sometimes dilute local democratic control, making school boards less responsive to the specific concerns of minority or marginalized communities within the larger region.
  • The bonus is calculated as a percentage of state aid, which could inadvertently widen the gap between wealthy regional districts and struggling standalone districts if the base aid formula is not perfectly equitable.
For Conservatives
  • Encourages the consolidation of government entities, which can theoretically reduce administrative bloat, eliminate duplicate positions, and lead to greater long-term efficiency in taxpayer spending.
  • Utilizes financial incentives rather than top-down government mandates to encourage towns to modernize their school structures, respecting a degree of local choice.
  • Includes a proration clause that limits state liability, ensuring that if claims exceed the appropriated funds, the state is not legally obligated to spend money it does not have.
  • Establishes a permanent, ongoing entitlement program that increases state spending obligations indefinitely, with no sunset clause to re-evaluate the necessity of the funding.
  • Erodes local autonomy by using state tax dollars to bribe towns into merging their school systems, effectively centralizing control and weakening the traditional town-based school model.
  • Increases the overall tax burden on the state to subsidize specific districts, redistributing wealth from non-regionalized taxpayers to those in regionalized systems.

Votes

Loading votes...

Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 15 additions · 5 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 16-7.2-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-7.2 entitled "The Education Equity and Property Tax Relief Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: 16-7.2-6. Categorical programs, state funded expenses. In addition to the foundation education aid provided pursuant to § 16-7.2-3, the permanent foundation education-aid program shall provide direct state funding for:

(a) Excess costs associated with special education students. Excess costs are defined when an individual special education student’s cost shall be deemed to be “extraordinary.” Extraordinary costs are those educational costs that exceed the state-approved threshold based on an amount above four times the core foundation amount (total of core instruction amount plus student success amount). The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school districts are seeking reimbursement exceed the amount of funding appropriated in any fiscal year; and the department of elementary and secondary education shall also collect data on those educational costs that exceed the state-approved threshold based on an amount above two (2), three (3), and five (5) times the core foundation amount;

(b) Career and technical education costs to help meet initial investment requirements needed to transform existing, or create new, comprehensive, career and technical education programs and career pathways in critical and emerging industries and to help offset the higher- than-average costs associated with facilities, equipment maintenance and repair, and supplies necessary for maintaining the quality of highly specialized programs that are a priority for the state. The department shall develop criteria for the purpose of allocating any and all career and technical education funds as may be determined by the general assembly on an annual basis. The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school districts are seeking reimbursement exceed the amount of funding available in any fiscal year;

(c) Programs to increase access to voluntary, free, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs. The department shall recommend criteria for the purpose of allocating any and all early childhood program funds as may be determined by the general assembly;

(d) Central Falls, Davies, and the Met Center Stabilization Fund is established to ensure that appropriate funding is available to support their students. Additional support for Central Falls is needed due to concerns regarding the city’s capacity to meet the local share of education costs. This fund requires that education aid calculated pursuant to § 16-7.2-3 and funding for costs outside the permanent foundation education-aid formula, including, but not limited to, transportation, facility maintenance, and retiree health benefits shall be shared between the state and the city of Central Falls. The fund shall be annually reviewed to determine the amount of the state and city appropriation. The state’s share of this fund may be supported through a reallocation of current state appropriations to the Central Falls school district. At the end of the transition period defined in § 16-7.2-7, the municipality will continue its contribution pursuant to § 16-7-24. Additional support for the Davies and the Met Center is needed due to the costs associated with running a stand-alone high school offering both academic and career and technical coursework. The department shall recommend criteria for the purpose of allocating any and all stabilization funds as may be determined by the general assembly;

(e) Excess costs associated with transporting students to out-of-district non-public schools. This fund will provide state funding for the costs associated with transporting students to out-of- district non-public schools, pursuant to chapter 21.1 of this title. The state will assume the costs of non-public out-of-district transportation for those districts participating in the statewide system. The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school districts are seeking reimbursement exceed the amount of funding available in any fiscal year;

(f) Excess costs associated with transporting students within regional school districts. This fund will provide direct state funding for the excess costs associated with transporting students within regional school districts, established pursuant to chapter 3 of this title. This fund requires that the state and regional school district share equally the student transportation costs net any federal sources of revenue for these expenditures. The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school districts are seeking reimbursement exceed the amount of funding available in any fiscal year;

(g) Public school districts that are regionalized shall be eligible for a regionalization bonus as set forth below:

(1) As used herein, the term “regionalized” shall be deemed to refer to a regional school district established under the provisions of chapter 3 of this title, including the Chariho Regional School district;

(2) For those districts that are regionalized as of July 1, 2010, the regionalization bonus shall commence in FY 2012. For those districts that regionalize after July 1, 2010, the regionalization bonus shall commence in the first fiscal year following the establishment of a regionalized school district as set forth in chapter 3 of this title, including the Chariho Regional School District;

(3) The regionalization bonus in the first fiscal year shall be two percent (2.0%) of the state’s share of the foundation education aid for the regionalized district as calculated pursuant to §§ 16-7.2-3 and 16-7.2-4 in that fiscal year; provided, for those districts that regionalize or are regionalized before July 1, 2026, there shall be a bonus of six percent (6.0%) of the state’s share of foundation education aid for the regionalized school district as calculated pursuant §§ 16-7.2-3 and 16-7.2-4 for fiscal year 2026-2027. Thereafter, any district that remains regionalized on and after July 1, 2026, and any district that regionalizes on or after July 1, 2026, then those districts shall receive a bonus of six percent (6.0%) of the state’s share of the foundation education aid for each fiscal year that the district is a regionalized school district. For those districts that regionalize after July 1, 2026, the first bonus shall be awarded in the first fiscal year following establishment of a regionalized school district. The regionalization bonus provided by this subsection shall be ongoing and continuing;

(4) The regionalization bonus in the second fiscal year shall be one percent (1.0%) of the state’s share of the foundation education aid for the regionalized district as calculated pursuant to §§ 16-7.2-3 and 16-7.2-4 in that fiscal year;

(5) The regionalization bonus shall cease in the third fiscal year be ongoing and continuing, and be calculated pursuant to subsection (g)(3) of this section, but only for so long as the district remains a regionalized school district;

(6) The regionalization bonus for the Chariho regional school district shall be applied to the state share of the permanent foundation education aid for the member towns; and

(7) The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among those eligible regionalized school districts if the total, approved costs for which regionalized school districts are seeking a regionalization bonus exceed the amount of funding appropriated in any fiscal year;.

(h) [Deleted by P.L. 2024, ch. 117, art. 8, § 1.]

(i) State support for school resource officers. For purposes of this subsection, a school resource officer (SRO) shall be defined as a career law enforcement officer with sworn authority who is deployed by an employing police department or agency in a community-oriented policing assignment to work in collaboration with one or more schools. School resource officers should have completed at least forty (40) hours of specialized training in school policing, administered by an accredited agency, before being assigned. Beginning in FY 2019, for a period of three (3) years, school districts or municipalities that choose to employ school resource officers shall receive direct state support for costs associated with employing such officers at public middle and high schools. Districts or municipalities shall be reimbursed an amount equal to one-half (½) of the cost of salaries and benefits for the qualifying positions. Funding will be provided for school resource officer positions established on or after July 1, 2018, provided that:

(1) Each school resource officer shall be assigned to one school:

(i) Schools with enrollments below one thousand two hundred (1,200) students shall require one school resource officer;

(ii) Schools with enrollments of one thousand two hundred (1,200) or more students shall require two school resource officers;

(2) School resource officers hired in excess of the requirement noted above shall not be eligible for reimbursement; and

(3) Schools that eliminate existing school resource officer positions and create new positions under this provision shall not be eligible for reimbursement; and

(j) Categorical programs defined in subsections (a) through (g) shall be funded pursuant to the transition plan in § 16-7.2-7.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.