PROVIDENCE REPUBLICAN
CITY COMMITTEE
NEWS RELEASE
| Release Date | 2019-10-08 |
| Subject | Blast Elorza Over Proposal To Limit Charter Schools |
| Contacts | DAVID TALAN < DaveTalan@aol.com > |
| WILLIAM RICCI < ProvidenceRepublican@gmail.com > |
The Co-Chairs of the Providence Republican Party, David Talan and William Ricci, today blasted Mayor Elorza's proposal to limit the expansion of charter schools in Providence, in return for finally giving his long-overdue support for the high-performing Achievement First school to expand. The Boston Globe reported that Elorza will ask the Governor and the state Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, to freeze expansion of existing charter schools, and to block approval for any new charter schools to form in Providence.
At present, 4,500 Providence students attend high-performing charter schools. But there is a long waiting list, of at least 5 times as many children to get into charter schools, as there is room for.
Instead, the GOP leaders called on the Board of Education to approve an unlimited number of charter schools in Providence, that meet their criteria for high-performing. They also called on the Board to support allowing existing public charter schools in Providence to expand.
In addition, the GOP leaders called for allowing existing traditional public schools to transform into charter schools. This would allow them to bypass restrictions in the teachers union contract. And would enable Principals to make necessary reforms, that they are now blocked from doing, by the contract.
Also, Talan and Ricci called on the Governor and the Board of Education, to help parents and students who can not wait for the Providence schools to be fixed. At present, the state has a scholarship program to aid students to go to private or parochial schools. Private businesses or donors can donate to a scholarship fund, and receive state tax credits in return. But this program is capped at $2,000,000. It must be greatly expanded, to meet the demand, the GOP leaders said.
As for Mayor Elorza, the GOP leaders said that, "The best thing that the Mayor can do now, is just get out of the way, and allow Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green to make all the necessary reforms, that the Mayor has been unwilling or unable to do for the past 5 years."