The Rhode Island House Finance Committee budget unveiled last week slashed $1.5 million for two new charter schools in Central Falls and Cumberland, both of which would serve minority students.

This is a tough year, and cuts must be made. But slashing these funds — a tiny part of a proposed $7.76 billion budget — makes little sense, given that freezing out charter schools would put in jeopardy federal aid under the Race to the Top Program, a $5 billion Washington initiative that rewards innovation in education. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on Monday that Rhode Island may be putting itself at “at a huge competitive disadvantage” for the money.

Innovation in education may be why the two charters, the Mayoral Academy and the Segue Institute for Learning, were spurned. Teachers unions testified against the proposed Mayoral Academy for fear that it would threaten their economic interests, since the school would be permitted to hire and fire teachers without union red tape. A similar school in Harlem has done wonders in helping minority students achieve at a level comparable with students in excellent suburban schools.

The public clearly wants more charter schools in Rhode Island. No new ones have been authorized since 2004, yet students are clamoring to get in, with a waiting list nearly as long as the number fortunate enough to attend. A “Lottery Day” held this spring by eight charter schools showed just how much pent-up demand there is, especially in poor neighborhoods: 3,545 applications for 559 new openings.

The Mayoral Academy enjoys strong bipartisan support from citizens and their representatives, including: Cumberland Mayor Dan McKee, Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau, Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, Lincoln Town Administrator Joseph Almond, Smithfield Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, and state Representatives Peter Kilmartin (D.-Pawtucket) and Kenneth Vaudreuil (D.-Central Falls). These advocates for better schools, who represent hundreds of thousands of constituents, deserve to be heard at the State House, not just well-funded and well-organized economic interests.

Some other education measures before the legislature also seem designed to please narrow interests, including a bill to extend any teachers-union contract until a new one could be negotiated, which would undercut the power of communities to rein in unsustainable benefits and seek better education practices; and a bill that would seem to give the teachers unions greater say in deciding who can be certified as a school principal or teacher.

The Assembly must pay more attention to parents and students, and give innovation a chance to breathe. Rhode Islanders pay for great schools. Students deserve to have them.