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ARTICLE 7 AS AMENDED |
RELATING TO EDUCATION
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SECTION 1. Section 16-7-22 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-7 entitled "Foundation |
Level School Support [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is |
hereby amended to read as follows: |
16-7-22. Determination of average daily membership. |
Each community shall be paid pursuant to the provisions of § 16-7-17 an amount based |
upon the following provisions: |
(1) On or before September 1 of each year the average daily membership of each city and |
town for the reference year shall be determined by the commissioner of elementary and secondary |
education from data supplied by the school committee in each community in the following manner: |
The aggregate number of days of membership of all pupils enrolled full time in grade twelve (12) |
and below, except that pupils below grade one who are not full time shall be counted on a full-time |
equivalent basis: (i) Increased by the aggregate number of days of membership of pupils residing |
in the particular city or town whose tuition in schools approved by the department of elementary |
and secondary education in other cities and towns is paid by the particular city or town; and (ii) |
Decreased by the aggregate number of days of membership of nonresident pupils enrolled in the |
public schools of the particular city or town and further decreased by the aggregate number of days |
of membership equal to the number of group home beds calculated for the purposes of |
reimbursement pursuant to § 16-64-1.1; and (iii) Decreased further, in the case of a city or town |
that is a member of a regional school district during the first year of operation of the regional school |
district by the aggregate number of days of membership of pupils residing in the city or town who |
would have attended the public schools in the regional school district if the regional school district |
had been operating during the previous year, divided by the number of days during which the |
schools were officially in session during the reference year. The resulting figures shall be the |
average daily membership for the city or town for the reference year. For purposes of calculating |
the permanent foundation education aid as described in § 16-7.2-3(1) and (2), the average daily |
membership for school districts shall exclude charter school and state school students, and |
beginning in school year 2014-2015, include an estimate to ensure that districts converting from a |
half-day to a full-day kindergarten program pursuant to § 16-99-4 are credited on a full-time basis |
beginning in the first year of enrollment and are funded notwithstanding the transition plan pursuant |
to § 16-7.2-7. |
(2) The average daily membership of pupils attending public schools shall apply for the |
purposes of determining the percentage of the state’s share under the provisions of §§ 16-7-16(3), |
16-7-16(10), 16-7-18, 16-7-19, 16-7-20, 16-7-21, and 16-7.2-4. |
(3) In the case of regional school districts, the aggregate number of days of membership by |
which each city or town is decreased in subsection (1)(iii) of this section, divided by the number of |
days during which the schools attended by the pupils were officially in session, shall determine the |
average daily membership for the regional school district during the first year of operation. After |
the first year of operation, the average daily membership of each regional school district, except |
the Chariho regional high school district, shall be determined by the commissioner of elementary |
and secondary education from data supplied by the school committee of each regional school |
district for the reference year in the manner provided in subsection (1) of this section. |
(4) For all fiscal years beginning after June 30, 2024, notwithstanding subsection (1)(ii) |
above, the decrease for group home beds shall not apply to residential facility “beds” located or |
associated with the CRAFT program pursuant to § 16-64-1.1. |
SECTION 2. Sections 16-7.2-3 and 16-7.2-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-7.2 entitled |
"The Education Equity and Property Tax Relief Act" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
16-7.2-3. Permanent foundation education aid established. |
(a) Beginning in the 2012 fiscal year, the following foundation education-aid formula shall |
take effect. The foundation education aid for each district shall be the sum of the core instruction |
amount in subsection (a)(1) of this section and the amount to support high-need students in |
subsection (a)(2) of this section, which shall be multiplied by the district state-share ratio calculated |
pursuant to § 16-7.2-4 to determine the foundation aid. |
(1) The core instruction amount shall be an amount equal to a statewide, per-pupil core |
instruction amount as established by the department of elementary and secondary education, |
derived from the average of northeast regional expenditure data for the states of Rhode Island, |
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire from the National Center for Education Statistics |
(NCES) that will adequately fund the student instructional needs as described in the basic education |
program and multiplied by the district average daily membership as defined in § 16-7-22. |
Expenditure data in the following categories: instruction and support services for students, |
instruction, general administration, school administration, and other support services from the |
National Public Education Financial Survey, as published by NCES, and enrollment data from the |
Common Core of Data, also published by NCES, will be used when determining the core |
instruction amount. The core instruction amount will be updated annually. For the purpose of |
calculating this formula, school districts’ resident average daily membership shall exclude charter |
school and state-operated school students. |
(2) The amount to support high-need students beyond the core instruction amount shall be |
determined by: |
(i) Multiplying a student success factor of forty percent (40%) by the core instruction per- |
pupil amount described in subsection (a)(1) of this section and applying that amount for each |
resident child whose family income is at or below one hundred eighty-five percent (185%) of |
federal poverty guidelines, hereinafter referred to as “poverty status.” By October 1, 2022, as part |
of its budget submission pursuant to § 35-3-4 relative to state fiscal year 2024 and thereafter, the |
department of elementary and secondary education shall develop and utilize a poverty measure that |
in the department’s assessment most accurately serves as a proxy for the poverty status referenced |
in this subsection and does not rely on the administration of school nutrition programs. The |
department shall utilize this measure in calculations pursuant to this subsection related to the |
application of the student success factor, in calculations pursuant to § 16-7.2-4 related to the |
calculation of the state share ratio, and in the formulation of estimates pursuant to subsection (b) |
below. The department may also include any recommendations which seek to mitigate any |
disruptions associated with the implementation of this new poverty measure or improve the |
accuracy of its calculation. Beginning with the FY 2024 calculation, students whose family income |
is at or below one hundred eighty-five percent (185%) of federal poverty guidelines will be |
determined by participation in the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP). The number |
of students directly certified through the department of human services shall be multiplied by a |
factor of 1.6; and |
(ii) Multiplying a multilingual learner (MLL) factor of twenty percent (20%) by the core |
instruction per-pupil amount described in subsection (a)(1) of this section, applying that amount |
for each resident child identified in the three lowest proficiency categories using widely adopted, |
independent standards and assessments in accordance with subsection (f)(1) of this section and as |
identified by the commissioner and defined by regulations of the council on elementary and |
secondary education. Local education agencies shall report annually to the department of |
elementary and secondary education by September 1, outlining the planned and prior year use of |
all funding pursuant to this subsection to provide services to MLL students in accordance with |
requirements set forth by the commissioner of elementary and secondary education. The |
department shall review the use of funds to ensure consistency with established best practices. |
(b) The department of elementary and secondary education shall provide an estimate of the |
foundation education aid cost as part of its budget submission pursuant to § 35-3-4. The estimate |
shall include the most recent data available as well as an adjustment for average daily membership |
growth or decline based on the prior year experience. |
(c) In addition, the department shall report updated figures based on the average daily |
membership as of October 1 by December 1. |
(d) Local education agencies may set aside a portion of funds received under subsection |
(a) to expand learning opportunities such as after school and summer programs, full-day |
kindergarten and/or multiple pathway programs, provided that the basic education program and all |
other approved programs required in law are funded. |
(e) The department of elementary and secondary education shall promulgate such |
regulations as are necessary to implement fully the purposes of this chapter. |
(f)(1) By October 1, 2023, as part of its budget submission pursuant to § 35-3-4 relative to |
state fiscal year 2025, the department of elementary and secondary education shall evaluate the |
number of students by district who qualify as multilingual learner (MLL) students and MLL |
students whose family income is at or below one hundred eighty-five percent (185%) of federal |
poverty guidelines. The submission shall also include segmentation of these populations by levels |
as dictated by the WIDA multilingual learner assessment tool used as an objective benchmark for |
English proficiency. The department shall also prepare and produce expense data sourced from the |
uniform chart of accounts to recommend funding levels required to support students at the various |
levels of proficiency as determined by the WIDA assessment tool. Utilizing this information, the |
department shall recommend a funding solution to meet the needs of multilingual learners; this may |
include but not be limited to inclusion of MLL needs within the core foundation formula amount |
through one or multiple weights to distinguish different students of need or through categorical |
means. |
(2) By October 1, 2024, as part of its budget submission pursuant to § 35-3-4 relative to |
state fiscal year 2026, the department of elementary and secondary education shall develop |
alternatives to identify students whose family income is at or below one hundred eighty-five percent |
(185%) of federal poverty guidelines through participation in state-administered programs, |
including, but not limited to, the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), and RIteCare |
and other programs that include the collection of required supporting documentation. The |
department may also include any recommendations that seek to mitigate any disruptions associated |
with implementation of this new poverty measure or improve the accuracy of its calculation. |
(3) The department shall also report with its annual budget request information regarding |
local contributions to education aid and compliance with §§ 16-7-23 and 16-7-24. The report shall |
also compare these local contributions to state foundation education aid by community. The |
department shall also report compliance to each city or town school committee and city or town |
council. |
(4) By October 1, 2025, as part of its budget submission pursuant to § 35-3-4 relative to |
state fiscal year 2027, the department of elementary and secondary education shall submit a report |
developed in coordination with the department of administration and the Rhode Island longitudinal |
data system within the office of the postsecondary commissioner. The report shall provide an |
overview of the process for matching the department of human services program participation data |
to the department of elementary and secondary education student enrollment records for use in the |
education funding formula and recommend methods to ensure consistency and accuracy in future |
matching processes. |
(5) As part of its FY 2027 budget submission, the department shall also submit an estimate |
of foundation education aid that uses expanded direct certification with Medicaid matching in |
consultation with the Rhode Island longitudinal data system and the executive office of health and |
human services to identify students whose family income is at or below one hundred eighty-five |
percent (185%) of federal poverty guidelines, in addition to an estimate under the current law |
poverty determination. |
(6) By December 31, 2025, the department of elementary and secondary education shall |
also develop and submit a report to the governor, speaker of the house, and senate president on |
current and recommended processes to ensure the consistency and validity of submitted high-cost |
special education data from local education agencies. |
16-7.2-5. Charter public schools, the William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical |
High School, and the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center. |
(a) Charter public schools, as defined in chapter 77 of this title, the William M. Davies, Jr. |
Career and Technical High School (Davies), and the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical |
Center (the Met Center) shall be funded pursuant to § 16-7.2-3. If the October 1 actual enrollment |
data for any charter public school shows a ten percent (10%) or greater change from the prior year |
enrollment that is used as the reference year average daily membership, the last six (6) monthly |
payments to the charter public school will be adjusted to reflect actual enrollment. The state share |
of the permanent foundation education aid shall be paid by the state directly to the charter public |
schools, Davies, and the Met Center pursuant to § 16-7.2-9 and shall be calculated using the state- |
share ratio of the district of residence of the student as set forth in § 16-7.2-4. The department of |
elementary and secondary education shall provide the general assembly with the calculation of the |
state share of permanent foundation education aid for charter public schools delineated by school |
district. |
(b) The local share of education funding shall be paid to the charter public school, Davies, |
and the Met Center by the district of residence of the student and shall be the local, per-pupil cost |
calculated by dividing the local appropriation to education from property taxes, net of debt service, |
and capital projects, as defined in the uniform chart of accounts by the average daily membership |
for each city and town, pursuant to § 16-7-22, for the reference year. |
(c) Beginning in FY 2017, there shall be a reduction to the local per-pupil funding paid by |
the district of residence to charter public schools, Davies, and the Met Center. This reduction shall |
be equal to the greater (i) Of seven percent (7%) of the local, per-pupil funding of the district of |
residence pursuant to subsection (b) or (ii) The per-pupil value of the district’s costs for non-public |
textbooks, transportation for non-public students, retiree health benefits, out-of-district special- |
education tuition and transportation, services for students age eighteen (18) to twenty-one (21) |
years old, pre-school screening and intervention, and career and technical education, tuition and |
transportation costs, debt service and rental costs minus the average expenses incurred by charter |
schools for those same categories of expenses as reported in the uniform chart of accounts for the |
prior preceding fiscal year pursuant to § 16-7-16(11) and verified by the department of elementary |
and secondary education. In the case where audited financials result in a change in the calculation |
after the first tuition payment is made, the remaining payments shall be based on the most recent |
audited data. For those districts whose greater reduction occurs under the calculation of (ii), there |
shall be an additional reduction to payments to mayoral academies with teachers who do not |
participate in the state teacher’s retirement system under chapter 8 of title 36 equal to the per-pupil |
value of teacher retirement costs attributable to unfunded liability as calculated by the state’s |
actuary for the prior preceding fiscal year. Notwithstanding the foregoing, beginning with FY 2026, |
the reduction to the local per-pupil funding shall not exceed fourteen percent (14%). |
(d) Local district payments to charter public schools, Davies, and the Met Center for each |
district’s students enrolled in these schools shall be made on a quarterly basis in July, October, |
January, and April; however, the first local-district payment shall be made by August 15, instead |
of July. Failure of the community to make the local-district payment for its student(s) enrolled in a |
charter public school, Davies, and/or the Met Center may result in the withholding of state |
education aid pursuant to § 16-7-31. |
(e) Beginning in FY 2017, school districts with charter public school, Davies, and the Met |
Center enrollment, that, combined, comprise five percent (5%) or more of the average daily |
membership as defined in § 16-7-22, shall receive additional aid for a period of three (3) years. Aid |
in FY 2017 shall be equal to the number of charter public school, open-enrollment schools, Davies, |
or the Met Center students as of the reference year as defined in § 16-7-16 times a per-pupil amount |
of one hundred seventy-five dollars ($175). Aid in FY 2018 shall be equal to the number of charter |
public school, open-enrollment schools, Davies, or the Met Center students as of the reference year |
as defined in § 16-7-16 times a per-pupil amount of one hundred dollars ($100). Aid in FY 2019 |
shall be equal to the number of charter public school, open-enrollment schools, Davies, or the Met |
Center students as of the reference year as defined in § 16-7-16 times a per-pupil amount of fifty |
dollars ($50.00). The additional aid shall be used to offset the adjusted fixed costs retained by the |
districts of residence. |
(f) [Deleted by P.L. 2023, ch. 79, art. 8, § 2.] |
SECTION 3. Section 16-64-1.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-64 entitled "Residence |
of Children for School Purposes" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
16-64-1.1. Payment and reimbursement for educational costs of children placed in |
foster care, group homes, or other residential facility by a Rhode Island state agency. |
(a) Children placed in foster care by a Rhode Island-licensed child-placing agency or a |
Rhode Island governmental agency shall be entitled to the same free, appropriate public education |
provided to all other residents of the city or town where the child is placed. The city or town shall |
pay the cost of the education of the child during the time the child is in foster care in the city or |
town. |
(b) Children placed by the department of children, youth and families (DCYF) in a group |
home or other residential facility that does not include the delivery of educational services are to |
be educated by the community in which the group home or other residential facility is located, and |
those children shall be entitled to the same free, appropriate public education provided to all other |
residents of the city or town where the child is placed. For purposes of payment and reimbursement |
for educational costs under this chapter, the term “group home or other residential facility” shall |
not include independent-living programs or the Children's Residential and Family Treatment |
(CRAFT) program located on the East Providence campus of Bradley Hospital. Each city and town |
that contains one or more group homes or other residential facilities that do not include delivery of |
educational services will receive funds as part of state aid to education in accordance with the |
following provisions: |
(1) On December 31 of each year, the DCYF shall provide the department of elementary |
and secondary education with a precise count of how many group home or other residential facility |
“beds” exist in each Rhode Island city or town, counting only those “beds” in facilities that do not |
include the delivery of educational services. The number of “beds” in each group home or other |
residential facility shall be equal to the maximum number of children who may be placed in that |
group home or other residential facility on any given night according to the applicable licensure |
standards of the DCYF. |
(2) For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007, if the number of beds certified by DCYF for |
a school district by December 31, 2007, is greater than the number certified March 14, 2007, upon |
which the education aid for FY 2008 was appropriated, the education aid for that district will be |
increased by the number of increased beds multiplied by fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). |
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any law to the contrary, the education aid for all |
group home or other residential facility “beds” located or associated with the Children’s Residential |
and Family Treatment (CRAFT) program located on the East Providence campus of Bradley |
Hospital shall be twenty-two thousand dollars ($22,000) per bed. The Department of Elementary |
and Secondary Education shall include the additional aid in equal payments in March, April, May, |
and June, and the Governor’s budget recommendations pursuant to § 35-3-8 shall include the |
amounts required to provide the increased aid. |
For all fiscal years beginning after June 30, 2016, education aid for each school district |
shall include seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000) for each bed certified by DCYF by the preceding |
December 31. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any law to the contrary, the |
education aid for all group home or other residential facility “beds” located or associated with the |
Children’s Residential and Family Treatment (CRAFT) program located on the East Providence |
campus of Bradley Hospital shall be twenty-six thousand dollars ($26,000) per bed. For all fiscal |
years beginning after June 30, 2008, whenever the number of beds certified by DCYF for a school |
district by December 31 is greater than the number certified the prior December 31 upon which the |
education aid for that fiscal year was appropriated, the education aid for that district as enacted by |
the assembly during the prior legislative session for that fiscal year will be increased by the number |
of increased beds multiplied by the amount per bed authorized for that fiscal year. The Department |
of Elementary and Secondary Education shall include the additional aid in equal payments in |
March, April, May, and June, and the Governor’s budget recommendations pursuant to § 35-3-8 |
shall include the amounts required to provide the increased aid. |
(c) Children placed by DCYF in a residential-treatment program, group home, or other |
residential facility, whether or not located in the state of Rhode Island, which includes the delivery |
of educational services provided by that facility (excluding facilities where students are taught on |
grounds for periods of time by teaching staff provided by the school district in which the facility is |
located), shall have the cost of their education paid for as provided for in subsection (d) and § 16- |
64-1.2. The city or town determined to be responsible to DCYF for a per-pupil special-education |
cost pursuant to § 16-64-1.2 shall pay its share of the cost of educational services to DCYF or to |
the facility providing educational services. |
(d) Children placed by DCYF in group homes, child-caring facilities, community |
residences, or other residential facilities shall have the entire cost of their education paid for by |
DCYF if: |
(1) The facility is operated by the state of Rhode Island or the facility has a contract with |
DCYF to fund a pre-determined number of placements or part of the facility’s program; |
(2) The facility is state licensed; and |
(3) The facility operates an approved, on-grounds educational program, whether or not the |
child attends the on-grounds program. |
(e) Notwithstanding the foregoing or any other law, effective June 30, 2025, neither the |
East Providence public schools nor the city of East Providence shall be responsible to provide any |
educational or related services or instruction or have any financial responsibility for any student |
attending the CRAFT program unless East Providence is that student's district of origin. The school |
district of origin shall be responsible to provide any pay for such services and instruction consistent |
with applicable state law and regulation. For purposes of this section, "school district of origin" |
means the school district in which the student was last registered to attend prior to admission to the |
CRAFT program. The East Providence school district shall not be paid reimbursement as provided |
in this statute for such students. |
SECTION 4. This article shall take effect upon passage. |