Overview
- The legislature passed and Governor Dan McKee signed a law on Thursday imposing a three-year ban on new charter schools, permanently lowering the statewide charter cap and applying the change retroactively to some provisionally approved schools.
- Teachers’ unions led the push for the moratorium by lobbying lawmakers, filing testimony, and directing PAC donations to key sponsors while the Rhode Island Ethics Commission allowed Senate President Valarie Lawson to serve as union president and vote on the measure.
- The new law will prevent schools that had preliminary approval, including De La Comunidad Bilingual School, from opening next school year and will leave families on long charter waitlists without immediate new seats.
- Charter advocates note strong demand and reported performance gains—more than 9,300 applicants for about 3,170 seats in 2025–26 and claims of large learning-day advantages in reading and math—while supporters of the pause say declining enrollment has left district budgets unsustainable.
- Analysts and commentators warn the retroactive rule and funding shifts could raise borrowing costs for cities and towns, complicate municipal budgets and the state’s life‑sciences workforce plans, and have prompted credit-watch concerns from rating firms.