Douglas Davis plays the tuba in the Concert Band class at Cranston High School East. Music teachers worry about possible cuts in arts programs.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE — State education officials are revising the bare-minimum requirements of what school districts must provide to students — called the Basic Education Program — and some groups are worried the new version might result in cutbacks of traditional resources, such as librarians and music teachers.

The current program is roughly 400 pages and has not been updated since 1989. In addition to outlining the essentials for a basic education, the plan sets staffing and program requirements, such as two full-time library media specialists for districts with more than 1,000 students, and choral and instrumental music programs in high schools.

The state Department of Education has been revamping the program for the past couple of years, said Deputy Education Commissioner David V. Abbott. After a preliminary review by the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary education, the draft changes will now go before the public in a series of hearings. After considering possible revisions, the Regents will vote on the new version later this year.

The Basic Education Program allows schools to provide more, but they must not provide less than what is outlined. The current plan was used at one time to help districts and the state figure out how much it cost to “adequately” educate students and develop budgets. But the state’s funding formula was largely abandoned a decade ago, and lawmakers continue to hedge on developing a new one.

The new version, in contrast, is about 40 pages and differs markedly in tone and scope from its predecessor.

The document is designed to dovetail with current education regulations, including new special education rules, high school graduation requirements and the grade level expectations schools are expected to follow.

Instead of describing what must be put into schools, it describes the results schools must achieve — chiefly, ensuring students are proficient in English and math by the time they graduate. Schools have some latitude in how they achieve those results, but they must prove their effectiveness through yearly test scores and other measures.

Entirely absent are the staffing and program requirements described in the previous program — omissions that make some teachers and teacher unions nervous.

“We are very concerned about the BEP,” said Marcia Reback, executive director of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers. “The old Basic Education Program was very specific in terms of what should be offered … The new BEP is so broad, I am convinced it will not be useful in Caruolo actions, among other things, and won’t help new superintendents coming into the state to figure out what their school districts should be doing.”

(A Caruolo action, provided for under state law, permits districts to sue their community if they feel they are not receiving enough money to adequately educate students.)

Jacquelyn Lamoureux, a library media specialist in West Warwick and past president of the Rhode Island Education Media Association, said the 350 members of the association fear without such black-and-white requirements, their jobs could be eliminated.

“Considering the budget climate right now, regulations that don’t require school districts or school committees to provide services could be cut,” Lamoureux said.

Mark Colozzi, a music teacher for 29 years and president of the Rhode Island Music Educators Association, said his colleagues are also nervous.

“My first concern is the future of performing ensembles,” said Colozzi, who oversees the choral and instrumental groups at Cranston High School East. “It’s confusing because No Child Left Behind does require arts. And our new high school regulations say that students must show their arts proficiency through performing, responding and creating, and that would be hard to demonstrate without actually performing music. But [the new BEP] is so vague on the rest of it. Let’s face it, when you think music education, you think performing ensembles. It’s visual, it’s tangible.”

Education officials defend the changes in the basic education program.

“Both documents outline the floor — the absolute minimum of what schools should provide,” Abbott said.

The 20-year-old version “doesn’t tell you about results. It doesn’t tell you anything about quality,” he said. “The new plan focuses on how well you do things. So it changes the conversation from ‘Do you have enough?’ to ‘Is what you have being spent in an effective way?’ ”The new program also asserts a greater degree of state influence over schools, Abbott said, echoing a shift that is also reflected in the state’s standardized testing system and new high school graduation requirements.

The Regents have scheduled four public hearings to gather input on the proposed changes:

• May 11 at Middletown High School, 130 Valley Rd.

• May 12 at Davies Career-Technical High School, 50 Jenckes Hill Rd., Lincoln

• May 14 at South Kingstown High School, 215 Columbia St., Wakefield

• May 19 at The Met School, Unity Building, 325 Public St., Providence

All sessions start at 6 p.m.

To see a draft copy of the proposed updated Basic Education Program, visit: www.ride.ri.gov, see under Board of Regents/Regents’ regulations.

jjordan@projo.com