PROVIDENCE – The
city's public school district will return to local control July 1, ending the state’s six-year control, Mayor
Brett P. Smiley announced Thursday.
The state's takeover of the schools, which began in 2019, was originally scheduled to run through October 2027, according to the R.I. Department of Education's transition plan.
Smiley said Thursday the state's announcement to end its control caught city officials somewhat off guard.
Smiley said Gov. Daniel J. McKee called him late Wednesday afternoon to alert him that R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green would soon announce the transition.
Less than an hour later, McKee then publicly announced the news during a televised interview with WJAR-TV NBC 10.
“RIDE just posted their agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting. The plan is to put in front of the State Board that there’d be a full transition to the local community on July 1st this summer,” McKee told the station during the interview.
Smiley said the return to local oversight will not immediately alter district operations nor the fiscal 2027 budget process already underway. The city, however, expects to work more collaboratively with school officials on the fiscal 2028 budget, the first expected to be fully developed under renewed local control.
The mayor noted the state takeover period produced measurable progress in areas including attendance, absenteeism and multilingual learner certifications, but said there would not be a dramatic shift on July 1.
“We’re going to trust the professionals,” he said, referring to district and city education staff who will oversee the transition.
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Buonanno Foulkes, who leads McKee in recent polling, issued a sharply critical statement Thursday afternoon following the announcement.
“I called on the McKee Administration to return control of Providence’s schools since day one of my campaign," she said. "But an administration that can flip overnight from a return date in 2027 to one this July and not even have the decency to call the Superintendent of Providence Public Schools to inform him is not one that inspires confidence.”
The Providence Public School District has been under state intervention since November 2019, after a scathing Johns Hopkins University report detailed widespread failures across the district. The takeover effort was further complicated months later by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Discussions around returning the district to the city's control accelerated last year, with the R.I. Department of Education commissioning an independent review of both district progress and the city’s readiness to reassume oversight in May 2024.
In April 2025, Smiley and school leaders unveiled a transition roadmap outlining operational, staffing and budget coordination steps needed to return the district to city control by 2027 “if not sooner.”
UPDATE: Adds comment from Foulkes in 11th and 12th paragraphs.)
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.
