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H 7525Education

Education - Cooperative Service Among School Districts - Charter School Reform

This bill allows charter schools to use progressive, nontraditional teaching methods and reallocates seats from closed charters to these schools.

Held for study
Population
Affected
25
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 6, 2026Committee House Education

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends Rhode Island education laws to explicitly authorize and encourage charter schools to adopt nontraditional, progressive, and student-centric learning models. It mandates that these specific programs focus on task-based approaches rather than memorization or reading-heavy instruction. The Rhode Island Department of Education is tasked with reviewing applications to ensure these methods are adequate substitutes for traditional education. Additionally, the bill stipulates that if an existing charter school does not have its charter renewed, its allotted student seats must be reallocated to a charter school authorized to provide these nontraditional learning approaches.

For younger readers

This law changes how some schools, called charter schools, are allowed to teach. It says that these schools can use new, creative ways of learning that focus on doing projects and activities instead of just memorizing facts or reading books all day. If a charter school has to close down, the spots for students at that school will be given to other schools that use these new, active ways of teaching. This helps make sure there are schools available for kids who learn better by doing things rather than just listening.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Charter school studentsCharter school administratorsParentsTeachersRhode Island Department of Education
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Promotes student-centric, progressive educational models that move away from rote memorization, potentially benefiting neurodiverse students and those who struggle in rigid traditional environments.
  • Ensures that educational resources (seats) from failed charter schools are redirected specifically toward innovative learning models rather than being lost or reverting to standard testing-focused models.
  • Encourages the development of task-based learning approaches, which can foster critical thinking and practical skills often undervalued in standardized education systems.
  • Continues to divert public funds and resources into the privately-managed charter school system rather than reinvesting those resources back into traditional district public schools.
  • Mandates specific pedagogical approaches ("shall not focus on... reading approach"), which might be seen as legislative overreach into curriculum decisions that should be made by professional educators.
  • Reallocating seats exclusively to nontraditional charters prevents those resources from returning to the general public school system or other types of successful charter models that might benefit the community.
For Conservatives
  • Strengthens school choice by ensuring that seats from closed schools remain within the charter system rather than reverting to the government-run district bureaucracy.
  • Encourages innovation and competition in education by explicitly authorizing and prioritizing schools that use different teaching methods than the standard state model.
  • Reduces government reliance on standardized testing models by promoting task-based learning, potentially allowing for more localized control over curriculum style.
  • Explicitly mandates "progressive" education methods and bans "memorization," which undermines traditional, proven educational foundations and classical learning models.
  • Imposes heavy-handed government regulations on how charter schools must teach, reducing the autonomy that makes charter schools desirable in the first place.
  • The vague definition of "nontraditional approaches" could be weaponized to push ideological curriculums under the guise of "student-centric" learning without proper academic rigor.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 12 additions

SECTION 1. Chapter 16-3.1 of the General Laws entitled "Cooperative Service Among School Districts [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 16-3.1-22. Nontraditional approaches to learning.

(a) Any charter school may offer nontraditional approaches to learning or methods differing from traditional education approaches from mainstream education. Each charter school shall offer progressive, student-centric and task-based approaches to learning, and shall not focus on learning by memorization or a reading approach to learning.

(b) The Rhode Island department of education shall review all applications for charter schools providing nontraditional approaches to learning to ensure the nontraditional criteria is a sufficient substitute for a traditional education.

SECTION 2. Section 16-77-3.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-77 entitled "Establishment of Charter Public Schools [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended to read as follows: 16-77-3.1. Legislative purpose.

(a) The purpose of this chapter is to provide an alternative within the public education system by offering opportunities for entities identified in § 16-77-2.1 to establish and maintain a high performing public school program according to the terms of a charter. The key appeal of the charter school concept is its promise of increased accountability for student achievement in exchange for increased school autonomy.

(b) Charter public schools are intended to be vanguards, laboratories, and an expression of the on-going and vital state interest in the improvement of education. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any law to the contrary, a charter school shall be deemed to be a public school acting under state law and subject to the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, 42 U.S.C. § 6101, et seq., title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, et seq., title IX of the educational amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq., § 794 of title 29, and part B of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1411, et seq. All students and prospective students of a charter school shall be deemed to be public school students, having all the same rights under federal and Rhode Island law as students and prospective students at a non-chartered public school. These charter public schools shall be vehicles for research and development in areas such as curriculum, pedagogy, administration, materials, facilities, governance, parent relations and involvement, social development, instructor’s and administrator’s responsibilities, working conditions, student performance and fiscal accountability. It is the intent of the general assembly to create within the public school system vehicles for innovative learning opportunities to be utilized and evaluated in pilot projects. The provisions of this chapter are to be interpreted liberally to support the purposes set forth in this chapter and to advance a renewed commitment by the state to the mission, goals, and diversity of public education.

(c) It is the intent of the general assembly to provide opportunities for teachers, parents, pupils, and community members to establish and maintain public schools that operate independently as a method to accomplish all of the following:

(1) Improve pupil learning by creating schools with rigorous academic standards in all basic areas of instruction for high pupil performance;

(2) Increase learning opportunities for all pupils, with special emphasis on expanded learning experiences for pupils who are identified as educationally disadvantaged and at-risk;

(3) Encourage the use of innovative teaching methods;

(4) Create opportunities for teachers, including the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at the school site;

(5) Provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities that are available within the public school system;

(6) Hold the schools established under this chapter accountable for meeting publicly promulgated, measurable, state and charter-based pupil academic results, and provide the schools with a method to implement performance-based and/or other student-based accountability systems, while providing a means to restrict the expansion of ineffective charter public schools; and

(7) Encourage parental and community involvement with public schools.

(d) No private or parochial schools shall be eligible for charter public school status, nor shall a charter public school be affiliated in any way with a sectarian school or religious institution. Any charter public school authorized by this chapter shall be nonsectarian and nonreligious in its programs, admissions policies, employment practices, and all other operations. The board of regents shall not approve a charter to a school whose overall operation or education program is managed by a for profit entity.

(e) The commissioner is empowered to promulgate rules and regulations consistent with this chapter, in conformance with chapter 35 of title 42, for the creation and operation of charter public schools. These rules and regulations shall set forth the process for rescission of state approval of a charter public school, including appropriate protections to ensure the continued provision of education services to the students of the charter public school whose charter is rescinded.

(f) All charter public schools shall adhere to financial record keeping, reporting, auditing requirements, and procedures as required by the Rhode Island department of education and in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations.

(g) No more than thirty-five (35) charters shall be granted. At least one-half (½) of the total number of charter public schools in the state shall be reserved for charter school applications which are designed to increase the educational opportunities for at-risk pupils.

(h) Any charter school, whose charter has not been renewed, shall have their formerly allotted seats, reallocated to a school that is authorized to offer nontraditional approaches to learning or methods, pursuant to §16-3.1-22.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.