THERE’S LITTLE disagreement that Rhode Island’s budget needs savings, that our property taxes are too high, or that our economy could use a boost. Sadly, the conventional political wisdom offers only untenable answers: Cut taxes, precisely for those who are already doing best; slash public-school funding and block cities from raising these funds on their own; use tax breaks to swipe business from other states; de-fund social services, and so on.

Further, Governor Carcieri has chosen the “you’re with us or you’re against us” mentality that has governed policy-making in the Bush administration. In his world, Democrats, labor unions, immigrants, single mothers and the poor are enemies to be chastised through press releases and on talk radio.

Alternatively, we’d suggest that our problems can be solved by bringing people together and thinking broadly in ways that rely on our state’s strengths, maintain fairness and fill real needs. We write to offer a progressive vision for this legislative year.

Transform public education via a new consolidation and funding formula: By implementing a predictable funding formula for public education and consolidating Rhode Island’s school districts, our schools could be fully funded, our city and town budgets could be based on predictable funding levels, millions of dollars could be saved and property taxes could be reduced.

It’s impossible to justify the state’s refusal to provide additional funding for public schools last year. Rhode Island already ranks among the few states with the highest reliance on property taxes for education funding, and the highest percentage of funding burden placed on cities and towns.

Our standing in both categories certainly got worse last year with level funding of education. Now is the time to take politics out of education funding and create a fair and predictable funding formula that provides equitable funding and reduces property-tax burdens.

While Rhode Island’s tradition of local governance is noble, rote parochialism and xenophobia frequently prevent the state from taking advantage of its small size, and must not be tolerated.

Rhode Island’s 36 school districts represent extraordinary inefficiency: The exploitation of economies of scale and the elimination of redundancies would save untold millions of dollars. Perhaps even more importantly, consolidation would decrease socio-economic disparities between our school systems, and align the interests of wealthy communities with those of poorer ones — increasing the likelihood that people from throughout the state would work together to improve education for all students and to fund it in an equitable fashion.

For the first time in years, there’s serious talk of structural reform of our education system. We hope that this work moves forward swiftly, in a fashion that is respectful of teachers and other school employees, and that allows local communities to maintain local control where appropriate. Public education is intended to be the great equalizer in the United States, giving everybody opportunity for economic success.

Through school consolidation and implementation of a funding formula, the reality will inch closer to this theory.

Build the Green Economy:

Not in at least 30 years has there been such public awareness of and passionate support for environmental sustainability. It will be an unconscionable tragedy if we let the moment pass without fundamentally reorienting our energy policies. We need to encourage the production of renewable electricity by both large-scale developers and rank-and-file Rhode Islanders.

So-called “net-metering” is one of the most efficient and cheapest ways to encourage renewable-energy production. Its essence is to allow for proprietors of renewable-energy installations to receive compensation for any electricity they produce but don’t use. In other words, if a family in Warwick uses solar panels to produce more electricity than it needs, the surplus is pumped into the regional electricity grid and distributed to other users, and the family is fairly compensated.

Right now, there are strict limits on net-metering, and it’s time to eliminate them: If people want to pump clean energy into the grid, we should be encouraging them.

Additionally, National Grid needs to be compelled to enter into long-term contracts for the procurement of electricity from renewable sources, facilitating the development of large-scale wind farms and solar installations. Shifting toward renewable sources of electricity would conserve the environment, but also create local jobs and disentangle our energy needs from unpredictable geopolitics and global oil markets.

The Ocean State’s ample wind, and the fact that wind-turbine production relies on similar materials and infrastructure as the local ship- and aircraft-building industries, make Rhode Island a potential clean-energy hotbed — just as we were a key part of the industrial base of America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. While Massachusetts Governor Patrick is receiving plaudits for his billion-dollar biotech program, wouldn’t it be great if our state’s leaders were receiving similar praise, for making Rhode Island the center of the Northeast’s green economy?

If we act now, we can still be a leader in this regard. If we delay for another year or two, we’ll be too late.

Criminal-justice reform:

With a prison population of 2.3 million — and little attempt at rehabilitation or to reduce the underlying causes of crime — our nation is in the midst of a grave humanitarian crisis. Our per-capita prison population is one of the highest on the planet, and about seven times that of the rest of the developed world. Rhode Island is no exception.

With over 4,000 inmates, Rhode Island’s prison population is at an all-time high. Just last year, the budget of the Department of Corrections increased by $20 million — precisely the amount of money needed to raise education spending by the 3 percent that was requested by Rhode Island’s cities and towns.

Our state’s probation laws are a primary reason for our crowded prison. Nonviolent or technical violations of probation are rampant and, since Rhode Island’s probation terms are 60 percent longer than the national average, probationers have plenty of time to slip up (or be accused of doing so).

Common sense and cost-saving solutions are plentiful: Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences; end imprisonment for minor probation violations; reduce the length of probationary sentences; and steer more nonviolent offenders into rehabilitative programs and work-release, rather than stick them behind bars.

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We agree with Governor Carcieri’s assertion in his State of the State address that, “this crisis presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to make fundamental and lasting change.” Indeed, now is the time to fundamentally transform our public-education system, invest in a green economy and reform our criminal-justice system. Rhode Island’s future depends on it.

Matt Jerzyk and Rhode Island state Rep. David Segal are contributors to the rifuture.org blog, of which Mr. Jerzyk is editor.