PROVIDENCE — A new report on how much it would cost to “adequately educate” students in Rhode Island estimates that schools would need about $94 million more a year to get the job done, and that extra resources must flow to low-income, English-language learners and special-education students so they can achieve at the same level as their peers.

Florida-based consultants at R.C. Wood & Associates presented their 150-page report yesterday to a joint legislative committee charged with developing a statewide financing formula. Communities have been calling for a formula in recent years, saying it is increasingly hard to set school budgets without knowing how much education aid they will receive from the state. In addition, cities and towns want a statewide formula to help reduce local property taxes. Nationally, Rhode Island ranks high in its reliance on property taxes to finance schools.

Craig Wood, president of R.C. Wood & Associates in Gainesville, Fla., waits to begin his presentation at the State House. At right is Paula Dominguez, senior education policy advisor for the legislature.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

The Joint Committee to Establish a Permanent Education Foundation Aid Formula will study the report’s findings and work with tax experts and education advisers to develop a formula by May 15, lawmakers said. If approved by the General Assembly, the formula would be phased in over several years.

The consultants, who spent seven months and about $135,000 on the study, considered four different methods when calculating how much should be spent on educating the state’s students. Estimates ranged from an additional $42 million to an additional $200 million per year. The state this year gave cities and towns about $690 million to help operate schools.

Blending the different approaches, the average base cost per student would be $9,500. The consultants recommended the amount be increased for at-risk students — by 25 percent for low-income students and English-language learners and by 100 percent for special-education students, consultant Steve Smith told the lawmakers. That means it would cost about $2,375 more a year, or $11,875, to educate a low-income student, and about $19,000 for a special-education student.

“The underlying premise of providing additional funding to school districts serving greater proportions of at-risk children is that these children will need more contact with teachers of comparable quality if the legislature were to expect them to achieve the same outcomes of other children,” the report states.

The estimated base cost of $9,500 does not include transportation, a big–ticket item for many districts, or other expenses not directly related to the classroom, such as debt service and food service. (Rhode Island’s per pupil average cost in 2004-2005 was $11,180, but that figure does include transportation and other operational costs, according to the state Department of Education.)

“These estimates are really pushing the frontiers of social science research and there are limitations to each model and advantages to each model,” said consultant Craig Wood, who also teaches at the University of Florida. “We give you our preferences but we’re not here to tell you what public policy to engage in. We’re here to help you make more informed judgments.”

The consultants recommended the “successful schools” approach, which analyzes how much the top quarter of performing schools in Rhode Island are financed. By studying all the schools in the state for which they could get uniform data, the consultants compared school financing numbers to test-score information for 283 schools serving 140,404 students — about 91 percent of the state’s 154,046 students in 306 schools.

“Just providing the expenditure data is only one piece of the puzzle,” Smith said. “Other elements, including how experienced a teacher is and the types of curriculum used at that school, are also important.”

In analyzing the results, the consultants took into account student demographics. They found that top performing schools in affluent suburbs that appear to spend less per pupil than struggling schools in poor urban areas are in fact spending more, when the high cost of educating at-risk students is factored into the equation.

“To simply compare successful schools with non-successful schools without taking into account student demographics is not only misleading, but it’s an invalid means to determine adequate funding levels,” Smith said. According to this analysis, the top performing schools in Rhode Island spend about $63.3 million more a year than low-performing schools.

Lawmakers questioned the consultants’ estimates of adding 25 percent for low-income and immigrant students and 100 percent for special-education students. Another analysis in the study added 40 percent and 110 percent, respectively, which would cost the state close to $200 million.

“The problem with this report is the inferences you make,” said state Rep. John Patrick Shanley Jr., D-South Kingstown. “I don’t know where they come from.”

Smith said many states use the 25 percent and 100 percent ”weighted” rate, but he acknowledged that those costs are creeping up. He urged Rhode Island lawmakers to set special-education costs based on the level of severity of a student’s disability, rather than a flat rate.

Other recommendations include:

•Setting aside $25 million for pilot programs that have proven to be effective elsewhere, such as full-day kindergarten.

•Spending $10 million to improve the state’s education data system and connect it to higher education.

A panel of local educators also urged 200 hours of extra instructional time for the 45 percent of students not meeting the state standards, which would cost $51.3 million.

To see a copy of the Adequacy Study, visit: www.rilin.state.ri.us

jjordan@projo.com