2025 -- H 6236

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LC002711

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TRANSPORTATION OF SCHOOL PUPILS BEYOND CITY

AND TOWN LIMITS

     Introduced By: Representatives Cortvriend, Donovan, Knight, Speakman, Finkelman,
Kennedy, Azzinaro, McGaw, Edwards, and Carson

     Date Introduced: April 11, 2025

     Referred To: House Finance

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 16-21.1-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-21.1 entitled

"Transportation of School Pupils Beyond City and Town Limits [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The

Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     16-21.1-2. School bus districts established.

     (a) There are hereby established school bus districts within the state to provide bus

transportation in the interest of public safety, health, and welfare for pupils in grades kindergarten

through twelve (12), or in special education programs, who attend public schools, including

vocational schools and special education programs provided in accord with regulations of the board

of regents for elementary and secondary education, consolidated schools, regional schools

established under the provisions of § 16-3-1 et seq., or who participate in cooperative programs as

provided by § 16-3.1-1 et seq., and nonpublic nonprofit schools which are consolidated,

regionalized, or otherwise established to serve residents of a specific area within the state which

schools satisfy the requirements of law for any of the grades of school, kindergarten through twelve

(12), as follows:

     (1) Region I: The towns of Burrillville, North Smithfield, and Cumberland, and the city of

Woonsocket;

     (2) Region II: The county of Kent, except the town of West Greenwich and the towns of

Foster, Glocester, and Scituate towns of East Greenwich and West Warwick, and the city of

Warwick;

     (3) Region III: The towns town of Lincoln, Smithfield, Johnston, North Providence,

Barrington, Warren, and Bristol, and the cities of Cranston, Central Falls, East Providence,

Pawtucket, and Providence;

     (4) Region IV: The county of Washington and the towns of Jamestown and West

Greenwich towns of Exeter, Jamestown, Narragansett, North Kingstown, South Kingstown, and

West Greenwich;

     (5) Region V: The towns of Little Compton, Middletown, Portsmouth, and Tiverton, and

the city of Newport.

     (6) Region VI: The towns of Barrington, Bristol, and Warren, and the city of East

Providence;

     (7) Region VII: The towns of Lincoln, Smithfield, and North Providence, and the cities of

Central Falls and Pawtucket;

     (8) Region VIII: The towns of Glocester, Foster, Scituate, and Coventry;

     (9) Region IX: The towns of Charlestown, Hopkinton, Richmond, and Westerly.

     (b) A pupil attending a school, including a public school, vocational school, special

education program provided in accord with regulations of the board of regents for elementary and

secondary education, a regional school established under the provisions of § 16-3-1 et seq., as

authorized by § 16-3.1-1 et seq., or a nonpublic nonprofit school for grades kindergarten through

twelve (12), consolidated, regionalized, or otherwise established to serve residents of a specific

area within the state for any of the grades of schools, kindergarten through twelve (12), in the

interest of public safety, health, and welfare, shall be provided with bus transportation to the school

or facility which the pupil attends, within the region in which the pupil resides, by the school

committee of the city or town within which the pupil resides. The cost of transporting a pupil

attending a charter school, the William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School

(“Davies”), or the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (“the Met Center”) within

the established region shall be charged to the receiving school at the same grade level transportation

per pupil cost of the resident district. Districts may offer transportation to charter schools, Davies,

or the Met Center outside the established region in order to facilitate efficiency provided there is

not additional cost to the resident district.

     (c) Any pupil receiving transportation prior to December 30, 2025 under the regions

established in 1977, shall not be impacted by the new regions until July 1, 2029.

     SECTION 2. 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:

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     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

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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. Funding shall not be less than the

amount that was provided in fiscal year 2026 or fiscal year 2027, whichever year's amount is higher

or the greater of the two (2) fiscal years. The state will assume the costs of non-public out-of-district

transportation for those districts participating in the statewide system. Any unused portion of the

fund shall be used for the purpose of creating a student transportation subsidy for students who are

homeless, students in foster care, and students receiving high special needs services. 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

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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;

     (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;

     (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

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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 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TRANSPORTATION OF SCHOOL PUPILS BEYOND CITY

AND TOWN LIMITS

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     This act would amend the composition of school bus districts within the state to provide

transportation to students in grades kindergarten through 12. This act would change the total

number of districts from five (5) to nine (9) districts, to promote greater efficiency, cost savings,

and for many students, reducing the amount of time spent on a school bus. Students receiving

transportation prior to December 30, 2025, under regions established in 1977, would be

grandfathered into their old districts until July 1, 2029. This act would also provide that the

categorical aid for excess costs associated with transporting students to out-of-district non-public

schools would not be less than the higher of what was provided in fiscal years 2026 or 2027, and

that any unused portions of this expense would be used to create a student transportation subsidy

for students who are homeless, in foster care, or high special needs students.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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