2025 -- S 0888

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LC002562

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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 -- MAYORAL ACADEMIES

     Introduced By: Senators Pearson, Murray, Gallo, and Thompson

     Date Introduced: March 27, 2025

     Referred To: Senate Education

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 16-77.4-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-77.4 entitled "Mayoral

Academies [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby

amended to read as follows:

     16-77.4-1. Entities eligible to apply to become, or for the expansion of, a mayoral

academy.

     (a) A “mayoral academy” means a charter school created by a mayor of any city or town

within the State of Rhode Island, acting by, or through, a nonprofit organization established for

said purpose (regardless of the time said nonprofit organization is in existence), that enrolls students

from more than one city or town, including both urban and non-urban communities, and that offers

an equal number of enrollments to students on a lottery basis; provided, further, that such mayoral

academies shall have a board of trustees or directors that is comprised of representatives from each

included city or town and is chaired by a mayor of an included city or town. Provided further, that

the only voting members of the board of trustees or directors of a mayoral academy shall be the

mayor or, if there is no mayor, the town administrator, from each included city or town. The boards

of trustees or directors may have other nonvoting members, from each included city or town, who

shall serve in an advisory capacity. The mayor from each city or town, or in the absence of a mayor,

the city or town council via a resolution or ordinance, shall approve the participation in the mayoral

academy’s catchment area for a proposed charter or an amendment to a charter for expansion. For

purposes of this chapter, the term “mayor” shall include any elected town administrator.

     (b) No child shall be required to attend a mayoral academy, nor shall any teacher be

required to teach in a mayoral academy. The school committee of the district in which a mayoral

academy is located shall make accommodations to facilitate the transfer of students who do not

wish to participate in a mayoral academy into other public schools. It shall also make

accommodations for those students who wish to transfer into the mayoral academy as space

permits. If the total number of students who are eligible to attend and apply to a mayoral academy

is greater than the number of spaces available, the mayoral academy shall conduct a lottery to

determine which students shall be admitted.

     SECTION 2. 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 -- MAYORAL ACADEMIES

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     This act would provide that only a mayor or town administrator could be a voting member

of the board of directors or trustees for a mayoral academy. The act would also authorize other

nonvoting members on the board of directors and trustees, from each included city or town that the

mayoral academy serves.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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