Gov. Donald Carcieri's '65 proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 - submitted to the General Assembly on Jan. 31 - emphasizes education reform as promised in his second inaugural address and State of the State address.
"For the first time in many years, the education budget will grow faster than the health and human services budget," Carcieri said at a budget conference, according to a Jan. 31 press release.
Carcieri's education budget will increase state aid for education by $46.4 million - a 3-percent funding boost across the board. The proposed budget includes millions for charter schools, state universities, the troubled Central Falls school district and new school construction.
The budget includes plans to lay off 168 employees in several statewide departments. Carcieri specifically said the budget should cut services for the Department of Children, Youth and Families by reducing the maximum age of children served from 21 to 17. The department currently coordinates and monitors the education, health care and living conditions of troubled youth.
"Some programs may be affected in the short run, but in the long run, these kids are going to be educated in making choices," said Professor of Education Kenneth Wong, who directs the University's master's program in urban education policy. "They will save public resources and produce a larger, well-trained labor force that will attract outside investment to the state."
Even though Wong said he agrees with Carcieri's initiatives so far - including an effort to connect higher education institutions with the Central Falls school district - he stressed the importance of viewing Rhode Island's performance in comparison to other states.
"Stronger fiscal leadership is not the only solution to the problems with public education. (We need to) compare Rhode Island to other states and how they manage state funding for education with property taxes," Wong said.
Ivan Monzon '10, a graduate of Times2 Academy for Engineering, Mathematics, Science and Technology in Providence, one of 11 public charter schools in Rhode Island, applauded Carcieri's concern for education but was skeptical of how much an increase in funding would solve the overall problem.
"What the money should go to is extracurricular programs, so that students actually want to go to school and (stay) off the streets where they are more likely to get into trouble," Monzon said.
"It also never helped when a teacher would tell us that this or that person was being fired because there wasn't enough funding to keep them employed," he added. "I remember hearing that they were going to fire the school nurse once. It was a scary thought."
Though Carcieri said the budget would increase financial support for teacher development, he did not mention aiding other school positions.
"Educating students is affected by more than just monetary inputs," said Joshua Marland GS, one of Wong's research assistants. "Students may be coming from families that really need health service support - so decreasing them may have a negative effect on the students," he said. "Let's think about using health services within the schools."
