Providence School Board makeover is halfway there after Tuesday’s election

Newly elected members of the Providence School Board will start meeting here, at the Providence Public Schools Department on Westminster Street, early next year. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley's office begins accepting applications Friday for five open seats on the city's school board. Voters on Tuesday already decided who will fill the other five.

For the first time since 1966, Providence voters had a say in who sits on the school board after a new, hybridized board structure was approved by the city's voters in 2022, reversing a decision the city's electorate made a half-century earlier. In 1968, about 56% of the city's voters approved a change to make all seats on the school board appointed

According to unofficial, preliminary results , the winning, nonpartisan candidates are:

The Providence Public School Department (PPSD) has been under state control since 2019. That takeover left the board's powers severely limited, which means its members often act in a consultory or symbolic role, and have no direct influence over how the district spends money, or how it hires or fires teachers and staff. Those important decisions are made largely at the state level.

Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green oversees the state takeover, which she extended in August, forecasting its end sometime in the next three years. Since board members stay on for four years, both newly elected and appointed members could enjoy more decision-making power in the latter portion of their terms.

Power limitations didn't stop enthusiasm for the race, which saw endorsements from both union and charter stakeholders.

"Voters chose candidates that will ensure parents, community, students and educators will have a voice in the conversation and a seat at the table to strengthen our schools, collaborate on a fair funding formula, and chart a course for successful public schools," said Maribeth Calabro, outgoing president of the Providence Teachers Union, in an email Thursday.

Jones, Silverio and Stephens had the teachers' union endorsement, while Fontes was the sole victorious candidate endorsed by Stop the Wait RI, a pro-charter school organization. Stephens, who did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, was the only incumbent board member who won his contest. Three of his colleagues — Michael Nina, Toni Akin, and Night Jean Muhingabo — lost their respective races.

The defeated incumbent Muhingabo is hopeful he may still be appointed by Smiley, said his spokesperson Diego Arene-Morley in a text message on Thursday. Muhingabo, 25, ran for the first time. Arene-Morely noted that some of the candidates have been in Providence politics for as long as Muhingabo has been alive.

The City Council will presumably vote on Smiley's nominees in February, said Anthony Vega, a spokesperson for the mayor. The school board will elect its president during a full meeting that same month. Erlin Rogel, the current president of the school board, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

"One of the hardest things in the education space is it feels like we keep doing the same thing over and over again," Smiley said at a press conference Wednesday.

Smiley said he had spoken to and congratulated the newly elected board members, who were "full of energy and enthusiasm," that morning. But he also noted they would need to learn the ropes quickly.

"In an attempt to not repeat the mistakes of the past or start from scratch yet again, we're going to be working closely with them to brief them on the turnaround plan, brief them on the history of how we got to this point, and bring them up to speed," Smiley said, referring to the guiding document for the takeover.

The mayor plans to interview finalists from Dec. 30, 2024, through Jan. 6, 2025, before sending his choices over to the City Council for their stamp of final approval.

Currently, the board has nine members, and their terms will expire at the end of the year regardless of when they were appointed.

Voters on Tuesday also approved a bond worth $400 million — the most expensive in Rhode Island this election year, at either the municipal or statewide level — to make capital improvements to the city's schools. With interest, the bond's estimated cost is $686 million, and the construction projects are expected to last from approximately May 2026 to June 2029.

Funding fights continue

While capital improvement got a big boost from voters, the district's finances are in seriously bad shape. Just how bad is a matter of contention between the district, RIDE, the mayor's office and the Providence City Council. On Oct. 10, Mayor Smiley called a press conference to criticize the"ultimatum" Superintendent Javier Montañez made the previous day asking for $10.9 million for the district.

Montañez warned that without the emergency cash infusion, schools could soon see programs slashed apart, including winter and spring athletics and bus passes.

Smiley promised $1 million in additional funding from city coffers — ones newly stuffed from payments in lieu of taxes from local, major nonprofits like Brown Health, formerly Lifespan. The City Council would need to approve the funding — which it did, offering another $1.5 million along the way on Oct. 22. But both mayor and council were aligned that their gifts came with a caveat: The school district would be subject to an independent audit of its finances. The City Council additionally asked that the emergency money be used to restore bus passes and sports.

Montañez has not accepted the offers. He to the mayor on Oct. 11 that "the City has money, but it's choosing not to invest in schools," and on Oct. 23 to the City Council's Chief of Staff June Rose that their offer was "insufficient." The City Council then held a press conference on Oct. 29 , noting the superintendent had ignored a followup letter from Council President Rachel Miller.

The district's money problems are something of a tradition. Back in 1968, the push for an all-appointed board was led by then-mayor Joseph A. Doorley Jr., who wanted to disassemble the elected board because of "muddled school finances," the Providence Journal reported then. Mayor Doorley also noted that an independent audit of the district's finances had found a $2.4 million deficit — about $22 million in today's dollars but almost the exact same figure city officials are offering to repair the budget gap in 2024.

A City Council subcommittee was originally set to discuss this emergency funding — which would be pulled from pandemic relief that expires in December — Thursday. But the meeting was postponed, citing a court hearing earlier that day regarding a legal battle between the city and state.

Following a request from Infante-Green to Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa to withhold $8.5 million in car tax refunds, Providence filed a Superior Court complaint on Oct. 16 to block the action.

"We now also need to resolve the recent withholding order as it will affect the City's ability to provide any additional support," said Josh Estrella, a Smiley spokesperson, in an email Wednesday.

Whoever ends up footing the bill, some students and their families are getting restless with the back-and-forth, and they congregated outside Providence City Hall on Monday to call for the district's acceptance of the $2.5 million, even if it doesn't meet the full amount needed. A video by Steve Ahlquist shows students speaking on the steps.

"Brett Smiley, the city of Providence, and every adult in power: Do better," said Nya Isom-Agazie, a junior at Providence Career and Technical Academy, who was recorded in Ahlquist's video speaking on the steps. "I don't want to be back up here."