PROVIDENCE – Legislation to expand a major statewide investment in constructing new and refurbishing public school buildings was introduced on Thursday at the Statehouse.
R.I. General Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Seth Magaziner, along with Sens. Hanna Gallo, D-Cranston, and Sandra Cano, D-Pawtucket, and Rep. Brandon Potter, D-Cranston, announced a proposed $300 million bond proposal for voters to consider in the upcoming November election. The new bond proposal is part of the state’s School Construction Plan, which was formed in 2017 by Magaziner, the R.I. Department of Education and then-Gov. Gina M. Raimondo to address the more than 50,000 deficiencies within Rhode Island’s 306 public school buildings.
At the time, Raimondo called for $500 million in bonds to be approved by voters across two different election cycles, half OK’d in one cycle and the other half approved in another.
Voters overwhelmingly approved a $250 million bond in the 2018 election. It has been used for various school construction projects in Rhode Island, Magaziner said, including the new East Providence High School and the new Winters Elementary School in Pawtucket that’s under construction.
Overall, the School Construction Plan has allocated $1.7 billion in funding to repair or replace 189 school buildings in 28 districts within the Ocean State to date, Magaziner said. Also, in 2020, voters in Burrillville, Cranston, Newport, Providence and Warwick approved various bond measures for school repairs. This past summer, the General Assembly authorized $144 million in borrowing to repair and construct new schools in Central Falls.
Magaziner told Providence Business News on Thursday that the reason for the larger $300 million bond this cycle is that there has been “significant” demand from school districts statewide, including in Pawtucket and Providence. He said this demand is slated to continue to be high in the coming years if voters approve the bond measure.
“[The demand] is really everywhere,” Magaziner said, “and this is a good thing. All across the state, there are school buildings that have been in disrepair, and we need to fix all of them.”
Additionally, the bond, Magaziner said, will extend incentive funding for early childhood education facilities, career and technical education facilities, and science, technology, engineering, arts, and math facilities. Also, new incentives for school districts to employ local contractors and minority business enterprises on school construction projects will be included in the legislation.
New incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to current school buildings will also be part of the legislation, Magaziner said.
“We know that some upfront money investing in clean energy features can help districts save money on the long run on utility costs,” Magaziner said. “It should pay dividends over time.”
If approved by the General Assembly, Magaziner said campaigning for voter approval on this bond will begin in advance of November. Magaziner said while he is not privy to the details of what will be in Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s 2023 state fiscal budget proposal to state lawmakers, he’s hopeful the final budget approved later this spring will include a school construction measure.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
