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Lasting change, the Rhode Island Foundation believes, requires more than traditional charitable giving. It demands strategic collaboration, informed advocacy, and the willingness to tackle complex problems head-on. Since 2011, the Foundation's Civic Leadership Fund has put that philosophy into practice, investing over $5 million in systemic solutions across the state.

The results speak for themselves. A $100,000 investment to champion the 2024 Housing Bond helped secure $120 million for affordable housing statewide. Through Together RI 2024, the Foundation created spaces where 2,000 Rhode Islanders shared their perspectives across communities. And a long-running partnership with Brown University's Annenberg Institute has been quietly laying the groundwork for one of the most ambitious policy efforts in recent state history: a top-to-bottom redesign of Rhode Island's public school funding formula.

A Formula Past Its Prime

Rhode Island has a bold ambition: to rank among the top-performing education systems in the country by 2030. But the funding formula meant to power that goal hasn't been updated in 15 years, and it's showing its age.

That's the central finding of a Blue Ribbon Commission on education funding, which spent 2025 auditing the state's system from the inside out. Co-chaired by Foundation President and CEO David Cicilline and Dr. Nora Gordon, a Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University, the commission convened an unlikely coalition of teachers, superintendents, union, charter and district school leaders, municipal officials, and community advocates. The goal: build consensus across traditional divides and draft a modernized roadmap.

What's Broken

The current formula leaves significant gaps. It doesn't cover basic operational costs like student transportation or building upkeep, forcing school districts to choose between fixing infrastructure and hiring staff. It treats all students the same, regardless of differing needs and costs. And it offers no way to ensure that money actually translates into better student outcomes.

The Fix

The Commission's core proposal centers on a weighted student formula, a funding model that directs more state dollars to districts based on the specific needs of their students. Economically disadvantaged students, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities would each generate additional funding. High-cost career and technical education programs would receive proper support. And the state would absorb unpredictable expenses (like extraordinarily high-cost special education services) that currently push districts into crisis budgeting.

The Commission drew on models from across the country, including California's accountability framework, Connecticut's local funding requirements, and Michigan's approach to supporting multilingual learners, tailoring each for Rhode Island's context with research support from the Annenberg Institute.

Accountability at the Center

More money alone won't fix the problem, the commission argues. That's why their proposal includes a new Fiscal Responsibility Board to track how districts spend public dollars and whether that spending moves the needle on student achievement. Districts would be required to publicly report progress on closing achievement gaps, and standardized accounting practices would make education spending transparent to everyone, from state legislators to local taxpayers.

For struggling districts, the plan offers a tiered support system: technical assistance first, followed by more intensive state intervention for those with persistent challenges. The goal isn't punishment, but partnership.

The Commission's recommendations now await action from state lawmakers. For the Rhode Island Foundation, it's the Civic Leadership Fund's approach in action: research-backed, coalition-driven, and focused on results that outlast any single budget cycle.

The Blue Ribbon Commission's full recommendations are available at rifoundation.org/fairfunding.