Researchers from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University have played a significant role in shaping new recommendations for Rhode Island’s K-12 public school funding. Their work contributed to a report commissioned by the Rhode Island Foundation, which aims to revise the state’s 16-year-old funding formula.
The Rhode Island Foundation established an 18-member Blue Ribbon Commission to create proposals intended to improve educational outcomes for students across the state. Brown researchers facilitated discussions, provided data, and helped guide the commission’s work on the report titled “Equalizing Opportunity: Creating a Fair and Transparent Funding System for Rhode Island’s Public Schools.” The findings were presented at a Boston Globe panel event in Providence on January 22, with Annenberg Institute Director John Papay among the speakers.
“We chose to take on this work because we see improving the school funding system as a key policy lever to raise outcomes for all students in the state,” said Papay, who is also an associate professor of education policy at Brown.
The report makes four main recommendations: expanding state funding to cover costs such as transportation and building maintenance; targeting more funds toward students with disabilities and multilingual learners; requiring minimum local contributions based on each municipality’s financial capacity; and increasing transparency regarding how money is spent and its impact on student achievement.
David Cicilline, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation as well as co-chair of the commission, highlighted the importance of neutral expertise provided by Annenberg Institute researchers. “Annenberg’s objective, research-based style was credible across the diverse spectrum of commission members — that was crucial,” Cicilline said.
These recommendations are expected to form the basis for legislation that will be introduced later this year in the Rhode Island General Assembly. The new law would replace a funding formula first implemented in 2010.
“Investing in public education is essential to Rhode Island’s future,” Cicilline said. “This new school funding proposal puts the focus on the kids in classrooms and on real fiscal accountability to ensure student success.”
Cicilline noted that his organization partnered with Annenberg because of their longstanding involvement with both local schools and national experts in education finance. Since 2024, commission members met eight times with guidance from institute leaders who synthesized complex discussions into written memos and ultimately into their final report. Brenda Santos, who leads research-practice partnerships at Annenberg, explained that these meetings brought together stakeholders from varied backgrounds.
“The commission brought together members from a diverse group of stakeholders within the state, including some people who have interests that are very different from one another,” Santos said. “It was really important that they were all at the table together bringing different perspectives.”
The Annenberg Institute also organized a youth working group involving 14 students from eight districts who shared their experiences directly with commissioners. This group made several recommendations, such as emphasizing local investment in schools and calling for increased support for students with special needs.
Papay commented on recent developments in educational research: “For a long time, there has been conversation in education research literature about whether spending on schools matters for student outcomes,” he said. “And recently, there’s been a lot of good evidence that spending does matter — that schools need to have sufficient funding to support all learners.”