2025 -- H 6236
========
LC002711
========
S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025
____________
A N A C T
RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TRANSPORTATION OF SCHOOL PUPILS BEYOND CITY
AND TOWN LIMITS
Introduced By: Representatives Cortvriend, Donovan, Knight, Speakman, Finkelman,
Kennedy, Azzinaro, McGaw, Edwards, and Carson
Date Introduced: April 11, 2025
Referred To: House Finance
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 16-21.1-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-21.1 entitled 1
"Transportation of School Pupils Beyond City and Town Limits [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The 2
Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended to read as follows: 3
16-21.1-2. School bus districts established. 4
(a) There are hereby established school bus districts within the state to provide bus 5
transportation in the interest of public safety, health, and welfare for pupils in grades kindergarten 6
through twelve (12), or in special education programs, who attend public schools, including 7
vocational schools and special education programs provided in accord with regulations of the board 8
of regents for elementary and secondary education, consolidated schools, regional schools 9
established under the provisions of § 16-3-1 et seq., or who participate in cooperative programs as 10
provided by § 16-3.1-1 et seq., and nonpublic nonprofit schools which are consolidated, 11
regionalized, or otherwise established to serve residents of a specific area within the state which 12
schools satisfy the requirements of law for any of the grades of school, kindergarten through twelve 13
(12), as follows: 14
(1) Region I: The towns of Burrillville, North Smithfield, and Cumberland, and the city of 15
Woonsocket; 16
(2) Region II: The county of Kent, except the town of West Greenwich and the towns of 17
Foster, Glocester, and Scituate towns of East Greenwich and West Warwick, and the city of 18
LC002711 - Page 2 of 7
Warwick; 1
(3) Region III: The towns town of Lincoln, Smithfield, Johnston, North Providence, 2
Barrington, Warren, and Bristol, and the cities of Cranston, Central Falls, East Providence, 3
Pawtucket, and Providence; 4
(4) Region IV: The county of Washington and the towns of Jamestown and West 5
Greenwich towns of Exeter, Jamestown, Narragansett, North Kingstown, South Kingstown, and 6
West Greenwich; 7
(5) Region V: The towns of Little Compton, Middletown, Portsmouth, and Tiverton, and 8
the city of Newport. 9
(6) Region VI: The towns of Barrington, Bristol, and Warren, and the city of East 10
Providence; 11
(7) Region VII: The towns of Lincoln, Smithfield, and North Providence, and the cities of 12
Central Falls and Pawtucket; 13
(8) Region VIII: The towns of Glocester, Foster, Scituate, and Coventry; 14
(9) Region IX: The towns of Charlestown, Hopkinton, Richmond, and Westerly. 15
(b) A pupil attending a school, including a public school, vocational school, special 16
education program provided in accord with regulations of the board of regents for elementary and 17
secondary education, a regional school established under the provisions of § 16-3-1 et seq., as 18
authorized by § 16-3.1-1 et seq., or a nonpublic nonprofit school for grades kindergarten through 19
twelve (12), consolidated, regionalized, or otherwise established to serve residents of a specific 20
area within the state for any of the grades of schools, kindergarten through twelve (12), in the 21
interest of public safety, health, and welfare, shall be provided with bus transportation to the school 22
or facility which the pupil attends, within the region in which the pupil resides, by the school 23
committee of the city or town within which the pupil resides. The cost of transporting a pupil 24
attending a charter school, the William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School 25
(“Davies”), or the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (“the Met Center”) within 26
the established region shall be charged to the receiving school at the same grade level transportation 27
per pupil cost of the resident district. Districts may offer transportation to charter schools, Davies, 28
or the Met Center outside the established region in order to facilitate efficiency provided there is 29
not additional cost to the resident district. 30
(c) Any pupil receiving transportation prior to December 30, 2025 under the regions 31
established in 1977, shall not be impacted by the new regions until July 1, 2029. 32
SECTION 2. Section 16-7.2-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-7.2 entitled "The 33
Education Equity and Property Tax Relief Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: 34
LC002711 - Page 3 of 7
16-7.2-6. Categorical programs, state funded expenses. 1
In addition to the foundation education aid provided pursuant to § 16-7.2-3, the permanent 2
foundation education-aid program shall provide direct state funding for: 3
(a) Excess costs associated with special education students. Excess costs are defined when 4
an individual special education student’s cost shall be deemed to be “extraordinary.” Extraordinary 5
costs are those educational costs that exceed the state-approved threshold based on an amount 6
above four times the core foundation amount (total of core instruction amount plus student success 7
amount). The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available 8
for distribution among those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school 9
districts are seeking reimbursement exceed the amount of funding appropriated in any fiscal year; 10
and the department of elementary and secondary education shall also collect data on those 11
educational costs that exceed the state-approved threshold based on an amount above two (2), three 12
(3), and five (5) times the core foundation amount; 13
(b) Career and technical education costs to help meet initial investment requirements 14
needed to transform existing, or create new, comprehensive, career and technical education 15
programs and career pathways in critical and emerging industries and to help offset the higher-16
than-average costs associated with facilities, equipment maintenance and repair, and supplies 17
necessary for maintaining the quality of highly specialized programs that are a priority for the state. 18
The department shall develop criteria for the purpose of allocating any and all career and technical 19
education funds as may be determined by the general assembly on an annual basis. The department 20
of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among 21
those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school districts are seeking 22
reimbursement exceed the amount of funding available in any fiscal year; 23
(c) Programs to increase access to voluntary, free, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs. 24
The department shall recommend criteria for the purpose of allocating any and all early childhood 25
program funds as may be determined by the general assembly; 26
(d) Central Falls, Davies, and the Met Center Stabilization Fund is established to ensure 27
that appropriate funding is available to support their students. Additional support for Central Falls 28
is needed due to concerns regarding the city’s capacity to meet the local share of education costs. 29
This fund requires that education aid calculated pursuant to § 16-7.2-3 and funding for costs outside 30
the permanent foundation education-aid formula, including, but not limited to, transportation, 31
facility maintenance, and retiree health benefits shall be shared between the state and the city of 32
Central Falls. The fund shall be annually reviewed to determine the amount of the state and city 33
appropriation. The state’s share of this fund may be supported through a reallocation of current 34
LC002711 - Page 4 of 7
state appropriations to the Central Falls school district. At the end of the transition period defined 1
in § 16-7.2-7, the municipality will continue its contribution pursuant to § 16-7-24. Additional 2
support for the Davies and the Met Center is needed due to the costs associated with running a 3
stand-alone high school offering both academic and career and technical coursework. The 4
department shall recommend criteria for the purpose of allocating any and all stabilization funds as 5
may be determined by the general assembly; 6
(e) Excess costs associated with transporting students to out-of-district non-public schools. 7
This fund will provide state funding for the costs associated with transporting students to out-of-8
district non-public schools, pursuant to chapter 21.1 of this title. Funding shall not be less than the 9
amount that was provided in fiscal year 2026 or fiscal year 2027, whichever year's amount is higher 10
or the greater of the two (2) fiscal years. The state will assume the costs of non-public out-of-district 11
transportation for those districts participating in the statewide system. Any unused portion of the 12
fund shall be used for the purpose of creating a student transportation subsidy for students who are 13
homeless, students in foster care, and students receiving high special needs services. The 14
department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available for distribution 15
among those eligible school districts if the total approved costs for which school districts are 16
seeking reimbursement exceed the amount of funding available in any fiscal year; 17
(f) Excess costs associated with transporting students within regional school districts. This 18
fund will provide direct state funding for the excess costs associated with transporting students 19
within regional school districts, established pursuant to chapter 3 of this title. This fund requires 20
that the state and regional school district share equally the student transportation costs net any 21
federal sources of revenue for these expenditures. The department of elementary and secondary 22
education shall prorate the funds available for distribution among those eligible school districts if 23
the total approved costs for which school districts are seeking reimbursement exceed the amount 24
of funding available in any fiscal year; 25
(g) Public school districts that are regionalized shall be eligible for a regionalization bonus 26
as set forth below: 27
(1) As used herein, the term “regionalized” shall be deemed to refer to a regional school 28
district established under the provisions of chapter 3 of this title, including the Chariho Regional 29
School district; 30
(2) For those districts that are regionalized as of July 1, 2010, the regionalization bonus 31
shall commence in FY 2012. For those districts that regionalize after July 1, 2010, the 32
regionalization bonus shall commence in the first fiscal year following the establishment of a 33
regionalized school district as set forth in chapter 3 of this title, including the Chariho Regional 34
LC002711 - Page 5 of 7
School District; 1
(3) The regionalization bonus in the first fiscal year shall be two percent (2.0%) of the 2
state’s share of the foundation education aid for the regionalized district as calculated pursuant to 3
§§ 16-7.2-3 and 16-7.2-4 in that fiscal year; 4
(4) The regionalization bonus in the second fiscal year shall be one percent (1.0%) of the 5
state’s share of the foundation education aid for the regionalized district as calculated pursuant to 6
§§ 16-7.2-3 and 16-7.2-4 in that fiscal year; 7
(5) The regionalization bonus shall cease in the third fiscal year; 8
(6) The regionalization bonus for the Chariho regional school district shall be applied to 9
the state share of the permanent foundation education aid for the member towns; and 10
(7) The department of elementary and secondary education shall prorate the funds available 11
for distribution among those eligible regionalized school districts if the total, approved costs for 12
which regionalized school districts are seeking a regionalization bonus exceed the amount of 13
funding appropriated in any fiscal year; 14
(h) [Deleted by P.L. 2024, ch. 117, art. 8, § 1.] 15
(i) State support for school resource officers. For purposes of this subsection, a school 16
resource officer (SRO) shall be defined as a career law enforcement officer with sworn authority 17
who is deployed by an employing police department or agency in a community-oriented policing 18
assignment to work in collaboration with one or more schools. School resource officers should have 19
completed at least forty (40) hours of specialized training in school policing, administered by an 20
accredited agency, before being assigned. Beginning in FY 2019, for a period of three (3) years, 21
school districts or municipalities that choose to employ school resource officers shall receive direct 22
state support for costs associated with employing such officers at public middle and high schools. 23
Districts or municipalities shall be reimbursed an amount equal to one-half (½) of the cost of 24
salaries and benefits for the qualifying positions. Funding will be provided for school resource 25
officer positions established on or after July 1, 2018, provided that: 26
(1) Each school resource officer shall be assigned to one school: 27
(i) Schools with enrollments below one thousand two hundred (1,200) students shall 28
require one school resource officer; 29
(ii) Schools with enrollments of one thousand two hundred (1,200) or more students shall 30
require two school resource officers; 31
(2) School resource officers hired in excess of the requirement noted above shall not be 32
eligible for reimbursement; and 33
(3) Schools that eliminate existing school resource officer positions and create new 34
LC002711 - Page 6 of 7
positions under this provision shall not be eligible for reimbursement; and 1
(j) Categorical programs defined in subsections (a) through (g) shall be funded pursuant to 2
the transition plan in § 16-7.2-7. 3
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. 4
========
LC002711
========
LC002711 - Page 7 of 7
EXPLANATION
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF
A N A C T
RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TRANSPORTATION OF SCHOOL PUPILS BEYOND CITY
AND TOWN LIMITS
***
This act would amend the composition of school bus districts within the state to provide 1
transportation to students in grades kindergarten through 12. This act would change the total 2
number of districts from five (5) to nine (9) districts, to promote greater efficiency, cost savings, 3
and for many students, reducing the amount of time spent on a school bus. Students receiving 4
transportation prior to December 30, 2025, under regions established in 1977, would be 5
grandfathered into their old districts until July 1, 2029. This act would also provide that the 6
categorical aid for excess costs associated with transporting students to out-of-district non-public 7
schools would not be less than the higher of what was provided in fiscal years 2026 or 2027, and 8
that any unused portions of this expense would be used to create a student transportation subsidy 9
for students who are homeless, in foster care, or high special needs students. 10
This act would take effect upon passage. 11
========
LC002711
========