After decades of neglect, the bill is finally coming due for the most-urgent repairs and upgrades needed at the state’s aging primary- and secondary-education public schools.
Question No. 1 on the Nov. 6 ballot asks voters to support a $250 million bond request for the work. It’s a significant expense but one the state can no longer afford to delay without damaging the livability of its communities and education of its future workforce.
State education officials have identified $2.2 billion in needed improvements to bring the state’s 306 public schools into “ideal operational condition” over 10 years. Whether the state and local communities can afford to fill such a wish list on that schedule is a legitimate question worthy of debate.
But this year’s request targets projects that in most cases should have already been undertaken. And another $250 million request from education officials is already being planned for five years from now, assuming approval this year.
As R.I. Department of Education Commissioner Ken Wagner told PBN in this week’s cover story: “Every year we defer, the dollar amount goes up.”
Besides the statewide ballot question, there are individual bond requests for school repairs in eight local communities, including the capital city.
“Every one of [the city’s] schools needs help,” said Providence Public Schools Superintendent Christopher N. Maher.
Let’s hope we can look back on 2018 as the year Rhode Islanders began taking seriously the sorry condition of too many public schools in the state.
