Will Providence get its schools back sooner or later? Depends which side you ask.

The Providence School Board says it’s on track to complete the first of two years of professional development training to comply with the most important condition for taking back control of the city’s schools next year.

The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) insists that is too early because there is much more to be done to turn around the Providence Public School District (PPSD), which the state took over in 2019 after years of underperformance and poor learning conditions. In 2024, the takeover was extended for a maximum of three years, up through 2027. 

The district’s “[h]istorically dysfunctional and unfocused governance” continues despite some improvements, according to a PowerPoint state education officials presented Tuesday to the state’s Council on Elementary and Secondary Education.

“We are not on track today to support accelerated return to local control,” RIDE Deputy Commissioner Drew Echelson told the K-12 council. 

That “accelerated return” would essentially see the city get its school district back as early as summer 2026, the target date of the Providence school district’s local governance — which includes the School Board, the City Council, and Mayor Brett Smiley. 

“The City is still prepared for the State intervention to end in 2026,” Josh Estrella, a spokesperson for Smiley, said over email Wednesday. “We share RIDE’s commitment to making sure all partners are fully prepared and ready to govern on the first day the district returns to local management.”

But for now, RIDE favors returning the district to local control in 2027 as the more judicious option.

“There’s been a lot of progress, and we just cannot slip back,” RIDE Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green told the K-12 council Tuesday. “When we spend time on adult issues that do not benefit the district and everybody that’s doing the work in the district — that is problematic. We will always call that when we see it.”

Coaching underway

To resume local control, the school board needs to spend two years with a “Student Outcomes-Focused Governance” coach, per RIDE’s terms, as outlined by Infante-Green back in February.

The set of conditions for a return to local control include metrics related to funding, facilities, and progress made on the takeover’s guiding document, the Turnaround Action Plan. They also include building the school board’s capacity, plus a broader mandate of “Collaboration and Communication” across the district’s multiple stakeholders in hopes of creating “effective systems and structures for cross governance,” according to a RIDE news release.    

Estrella said the mayor’s office is pleased with the progress the school board has made working with its Washington, D.C.-based consultants Council of the Great City Schools. 

The formal start to the school board’s work with the consultants began at its March 19 meeting, when members voted to proceed with a one-year engagement worth $50,000 and financed by the Rhode Island Foundation. Funding for the contract beyond the first year will likely require a new vote and different funding source, according to the district’s legal counsel. 

The process was not without hiccups: Providence School Board President Ty’Relle J. Stephens was the only board member who voted against the contract at that March meeting, citing concerns about the agreement, including a discount of $10,000 off the Council of the Great City Schools’ services but only if the vote to approve the contract was unanimous.

Since then, the board has had community listening sessions and numerous coaching sessions. Stephens said the board has been satisfying its end of the bargain. That’s why he was frustrated by RIDE’s presentation Tuesday, especially slide number 15 in particular.

The slide’s subtitle: “The Board has made progress in some areas, but persistent challenges threaten real progress and begs an essential question, ‘Will momentum continue?’” 

The slide states that the school board “still has not formally established final goals and guardrails” during its work with the Council of the Great City Schools. It adds that community listening sessions held over the summer did not adequately include family feedback. 

While the school board discussed its guardrails at its Oct. 22 meeting, the document was still in draft form and the board slightly behind the timeline it set in April. The board was supposed to have already finalized its guardrails and adopted one of them already.

RIDE officials are concerned about the board’s decision to retain its own legal counsel separate from the district, as well as its overturning three of the superintendent’s recommendations regarding personnel.

“Past board votes have required intervention by Commissioner to avert millions of dollars of financial risk and educators in classrooms who school administrators believed to be unfit,” the RIDE presentation says.  

Speaking during the public comment portion of Tuesday night’s K-12 council meeting, Stephens said the expectations outlined in February 2025 had been “clear” and that the board had worked with a “student outcome-focused vendor” as RIDE requested as well as the community to begin establishing the guardrails RIDE wants. 

“We have done that and more,” Stephens said. “Mid-December, the Providence School Board would have met each of these benchmarks, [and] completed over 40 hours of intense professional development, more than any school committee in the state of Rhode Island.”

“We have held 19 community listening sessions across every region in the city of Providence, developed internal drafts of goals and guardrails, and begun updating more than 100 outdated policies for the first time in years,” Stephens added. “Some policies dated back to 1970. As we approach the finish line, it is disappointing to see slide 15 presented in a way that does not fully or fairly capture the work that has been done, nor does it align with the original readiness criteria from the commissioner.”

Governor informed of ‘the situation’

RIDE’s presentation was posted online publicly last Friday. On Tuesday morning, Stephens made a preemptive strike, sending a one-page statement to the news media, floating the idea of holding a special board meeting next week to craft a formal response to RIDE’s presentation. The response would be sent to Gov. Dan McKee and the General Assembly and seek to “clear the record and ensure honest and transparent public documentation,” he wrote.

“The Commissioner appears to be altering the terms of governance readiness by introducing new conditions that are either legally questionable or misleading,” Stephens wrote in the statement. “This shift seems intended to advance a narrative of ‘dysfunctional governance’ to hopefully influence the K-12 Council to petition the Governor for extended state control.”

Stephens wrote that his conversations with McKee have been productive, and that the governor “publicly committed during his February 10, 2025, press conference that once the original expectations are met, local control will be restored. This means, Providence Schools will return to local control no later than June 30, 2026.”

By Wednesday, Stephens reversed course and wrote in an email to Rhode Island Current that he had shelved his plans to hold a special board meeting and formalize a letter on the RIDE presentation’s claims. 

“I have spoken with RIDE on this, and we’re looking forward to collaborating and working toward progress for all Providence students,” Stephens wrote.

Pressed for more specifics on what prompted the change of opinion, Stephens wrote back on Wednesday, “Since the release of that letter, there have been deep and candid conversations on all sides. Feedback was shared openly, and as a result, we are in a much stronger position to collaborate than ever before.”

“At this time, I believe it is in the best interest of the Providence School Board to remain fully focused on student achievement,” Stephens wrote. “A special meeting will not be needed as we continue working toward meaningful progress and an accelerated return to local control.”

McKee’s office never officially received the letter, according to his spokesperson Olivia DaRocha, although she said the office was informed of “the situation” by RIDE.

“We are pleased that since the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education meeting, there has been ongoing, collaborative communications between RIDE and the Providence School Board,” DaRocha wrote.

Victor Morente, a RIDE spokesperson, pointed to a video of Tuesday’s meeting when asked for comment, and added that “RIDE officials acknowledged that the District is making meaningful progress, especially in key areas such as academic achievement…However, persistent challenges remain that could hinder the District’s momentum. RIDE remains committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to continue moving PPSD in the right direction.”