It has been nine months since the commission was established, and only in the last week have the final members been appointed.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, April 3, 2005

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

Mayors, school superintendents and business advocates have intensified their pleas for a statewide financing formula for Rhode Island's schools in the past year. Property taxes are out of control, they say, and towns struggle every year to set school budgets without knowing how much the state will kick in.

"Our state has hit a wall on local property tax," Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline told lawmakers last month. "We need the General Assembly to take bold action in the area of education funding. The current system is unsustainable."

But in the nine months since lawmakers established a commission to study the issue, the group has yet to meet, and the last two lawmakers -- of five state representatives and five state senators -- were not appointed until the past several days.

"All I can say is, I have been pestering [House leadership]," said state Rep. Edith H. Ajello, a Providence Democrat who was appointed cochairwoman of the commission last October. "I've been eagerly awaiting the start of the commission's work."

When, and if, the commission begins its work, it will be charged with three daunting tasks: determining what a basic education requires; figuring out how much that costs, taking into account the fact that it is more expensive to educate certain populations, such as special education and non-English speaking students; and recommending ways of meeting those costs, probably through a statewide tax.

Today, Rhode Island depends more heavily on local property tax to finance public schools than all other states except for Nevada. At the same time, state support for education is dwindling. A decade ago, the state ranked 37th nationally in terms of the proportion of public education paid by the state. Rhode Island has fallen to 43rd place.

Cities and towns across the state are feeling the pinch.

In 1995, the state paid for 35 percent of North Kingstown's education costs, compared with 28 percent today, said James Halley, North Kingstown's superintendent. Halley also heads the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association, which supports a statewide financing formula. "We need to open up the discussion about state responsibility for funding education."

As of 2003, per-pupil spending ranged from a high of $20,000 for students from Block Island to a low of $8,000 a year per student in Cumberland; the average was $10,600 per student, and 11 districts came within $300 of that mark.

When the commission was established last year, after the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council called for a statewide financing formula for schools, it was expected to issue a report by this October.

Given the fact the commission has not yet begun meeting, it is unclear whether it can meet that deadline.

"To me, it's important enough work that we need to get it right," Ajello said. "So if we need to ask the legislature for more time, we'll do that."

Cicilline called a school-funding formula "the single most important issue facing our state," and said he has "every confidence" the commission will start its work soon.

Others expressed frustration with the delay.

"I think there is universal agreement by every group that is involved with schools, that we need to develop a fair and predictable school-funding formula," said Gary Sasse, executive director of RIPEC. "What there's not universal agreement on is what the solution is. But that's what this commission was supposed to find out."

In addition to Ajello, the other House members of the commission are:

Paul W. Crowley, D-Newport, John A. Savage, R-East Providence, John Patrick Shanley, D- South Kingstown, and Helio Mello, D-East Providence, who was appointed last week, according to Larry Berman, House spokesman.

Senate spokesman Greg Pare said the Senate members of the commission are: Hanna M. Gallo, D-Cranston, June N. Gibbs, R-Middletown, Daniel J. Issa, D-Central Falls, V. Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown, and Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, who was appointed yesterday.

Education notebook -- Now the hard part: Paying that college tuition

Each spring, thousands of Rhode Islanders are accepted to college, and after the joy comes the worry. How, students and their parents wonder, will they pay for it?

The Rhode Island Student Loan Authority is offering two financing programs "that will help make the acceptance to college a financial reality," said Noel Simpson, executive director. Families can find out more about the Rhode Island Advantage Parent PLUS Loan, now available at 1 percent lower than the government's PLUS loan rate, and the Stafford Loan, which RISLA offers to Rhode Islanders without a 3-percent "loan origination fee" most lenders charge.

For more information on the savings offered by RISLA, visit www.risla.com or call (401) 736-1190.

$700,000 federal grant for arts center at Providence College

U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy has announced that Providence College's Smith Center will receive a $700,000 grant to improve theaters and classroom space in the arts center.

Kennedy, a 1991 alumnus of PC, is a member of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee and is able to earmark money for projects in Rhode Island.

The 60,000-square-foot theater cost $18 million to build and houses the music, theater, dance and film departments. The grant covers mechanical and lighting upgrades to the 283-seat Angell Blackfriars Theatre, seating in the Bowab Studio Theatre, instrument lockers and music library carrels in the rehearsal areas, and some classroom computers.

Programs for needy college students secure for another year

Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island will receive $668,251 to finance popular TRIO programs that help needy students reach and stay in state colleges, including Talent Search and Upward Bound. RIC will receive $349,592, and CCRI will receive $318,659. President Bush's budget proposal for next year would cut such financing, but lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, have said they will fight to restore the money.

National Youth Service Day

Two hundred students between the ages of 13 and 18 are expected to attend a National Youth Service Day program on Friday, April 15, from 6 to 9 p.m., at the John Hope Settlement House, 7 Burgess St., Providence.

Cosponsored by the Settlement House and Johnson & Wales University, the event will feature speakers on leadership, education and professionalism, and on issues that will help students in college and jobs.

National Youth Service Day was designed to help young people pursue public service and civic engagement.

The Education Notebook is a listing of brief news items relating to schools, colleges, educational events, students and parents.