State council unanimously votes to return PPSD to local control

The Council on Elementary and Secondary Education officially voted to return the Providence Public School District from state to local control by July 1 at a Tuesday meeting. Discussions regarding the transition are ongoing, and a community forum is set to take place on June 3. 

“In the weeks ahead, our district leadership team will continue working diligently to ensure PPSD stays the course and that we provide stability and keep our community informed every step of the way,” PPSD Superintendent Javier Montañez wrote in a letter to the community obtained by The Herald.

The vote comes six days after Department of Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green wrote to the PPSD community that she would be submitting a recommendation in favor of the shift. 

“While there had been discussions of a gradual, progressive return to local control, local leaders had also advocated for an immediate return,” PPSD spokesperson Alex Torres-Perez wrote in an email to The Herald.

“It is time for this community to take some ownership,” Infante-Green said at the council meeting.

The PPSD has been under state control since 2019. The release of a Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy report detailing widespread dysfunction in the district — such as low quality of school instruction, bullying in schools and educators’ perceived lack of agency over decision-making — led the state to intervene.

The PPSD was at a “breaking point,” Infante-Green wrote in the May 20 community letter. After “measurable progress across Providence schools,” she wrote that the community is “preparing to enter a new phase of this conversation about the future of the PPSD.” 

The commissioner’s recommendation was based on improved academic outcomes, increased graduation rates and safer school facilities, among other factors, Rhode Island Department of Education spokesperson Victor Morente wrote in an email to The Herald. 

“Local control matters,” said Naiommy Baret, PPSD parent and Director of Early Childhood Policy at Parents Leading for Educational Equity, during the council meeting. “Families deserve a school system that is closer community, responsive to parents and accountable to students who live in Providence.”

Baret added that the transition must include clear funding obligations, public monitoring of student learning outcomes and consistent community engagement.

When Lindsay Paiva, a third grade teacher at Webster Avenue Elementary School and president-elect of the Providence Teachers Union first learned about the commissioners recommendation, her first reaction was relief, she said in an interview with The Herald. 

“I think returning to local is the way to continue to improve outcomes for students and to build the most robust system,” Paiva said. “I think that we have a better shot of building schools that serve all kids.” 

Paiva said that many teachers felt as if their voices were silenced under state control. She added that she believed there were challenges regarding accountability and transparency because governance structures were unclear, and teachers faced retaliatory behavior from administrators.

RIDE did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.

While Paiva is not entirely sure how this transition of power will happen “I know that we will make it work,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to having some of the summer to build within that new structure, and to really think about ways that we want to move those systems.” 

Nayla Quiroa, sophomore at Hope High School first learned that the PPSD would likely be returned to local control over social media.

“I feel like it’s such a big change that could affect the kids who are in the schools,” Quiroa said in an interview with The Herald.

The return to local control “is an important and long-awaited step for Providence students, families and educators,” Carl Austin Miller Grondin MA ’24, press secretary for Mayor Brett Smiley, wrote in an email to The Herald. “The city is ready to meet this moment with the City Council and Providence School board and take on the responsibility of supporting a stronger, more accountable school system.”