Providence Mayor Brett Smiley speaks to reporters at City Hall on Oct. 10, 2024, the day after the school department demanded emergency funding of just $11 million to correct the deficit. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
The city of Providence will pay an additional $15 million to its public schools to avert a budget crisis that threatened to disrupt student benefits such as athletic and bus passes in coming months, under the terms of a agreement reached this week with the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE).
The settlement details announced just after noon Friday provide an additional $4 million for the 2024 fiscal year, and add $11 million in city funding for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2025. That makes the city’s total contribution to its schools $146.5 million in budget money. 2025.
RIDE Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green praised the settlement as a step toward fulfilling the city’s legal and moral obligations to fund its schools, which have been under state control since 2019. “We are all committed to building a world-class school system that meets the needs of Providence students, families and educators,” she said in a statement Friday afternoon.
In October, Mayor Brett Smiley initially resisted when the Providence Public School Department (PPSD) called for an additional $11 million to cover budget shortfalls. Smiley and the city council offered $2.5 million to ease the pain, but the courts ultimately sided with the state. Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Lanphear ruled on Nov. 8 that the state-run Providence Public School Department (PPSD) is eligible for millions more in local funding.
But city and state officials didn’t reach an agreement until the eleventh hour. During a hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday to determine what Providence was owed, representatives from the city and state repeatedly entered and left the courtroom for more than two hours. When Lanphear came to the bench, he announced that a settlement had been reached.
The $11 million payment for the current fiscal year will prevent cuts to winter and spring sports and student bus passes, according to the school department.
Providence has also committed $147 million in school funding for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. In the latter year, the city will be liable for adjustments related to the growth of statewide education aid.
The settlement brings the city more closely into line with the mandates of the Crowley Act, the state law that dictates the terms of state takeovers of school districts, and the obligations of municipalities to fund their public schools.
Smiley said in a joint statement with RIDE on Friday that he was “relieved” that an agreement had been reached after a long series of lawsuits, and that “predictable funding for our schools for years to come” was now assured.
But at one interview with WPRI On Friday, Smiley said: “This was a painful process, a painful negotiation.”
The mayor has promised no midyear tax increases for Providence, but an increase for the next fiscal year is still on the table. An increase above the state-imposed limit of 4% would be subject to approval by the General Assembly.
The city is also implementing a series of cost-cutting measures, including a hiring freeze and the suspension of discretionary spending. Still, Smiley assured residents that services such as libraries and recreation would remain unaffected.
“I think by many people’s definition, a good compromise happens when both parties are a little bit unhappy,” Smiley told WPRI. “And I can tell you that both parties are a little bit unhappy.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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