Rhode Island public schools overspend tax dollars, underdeliver on academics

A new report says Rhode Island is wasting taxpayer dollars on a public school system failing in student learning.

A brand-new analysis from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC), a non-partisan fiscal watchdog, found the state is spending more than the national average on K-12 education – while scoring worse in reading and math.

“Rhode Island’s K-12 expenditures are among the highest in the nation while its student outcomes are middling,” RIPEC observed.

The report blamed “misalignment between resources and student need” and noted “many districts have not right-sized operations to meet recent enrollment declines.”

Rhode Island spends over $3.6 billion on K-12 public education, and its per-pupil expenditure is almost $23,000 – the eighth highest in the nation.

However, it ranked only 27th on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam, with just 26% of Rhode Island 8th graders scoring proficient in math and 31% in reading.

The problem, RIPEC states, isn’t the amount of money spent but how the money is spent, especially on what critics call administrative and paraprofessional bloat.

Where the average school has one support staff member for every 121 students, Rhode Island has almost twice as many – one for every 62 students. For each teacher in Rhode Island, there are 12.7 students, compared to the national average of 15.2.

The difference is particularly extreme among student support staff, such as social workers and therapists, but the trend holds true across paraprofessional staff, administrators and other service roles such as janitors and security, according to the report.

RIPEC concludes Rhode Island public schools need to “right-size” their staff according to recent enrollment declines and “prioritize instructional personnel,” rather than funding jobs outside the classroom.

“Rhode Islanders spend their tax dollars generously to support their schools,” said RIPEC’s President and CEO Michael DiBiase.

“Yet decisions as to how over $3 billion is spent are largely left to local school committees and school leaders, with relatively little oversight or accountability as to whether these investments are efficient or effective.”

But the problem isn’t unique to Rhode Island.

Policymakers across the nation are grappling with the fact that more funding is no guarantee of better academic results.

The 2024 NAEP scores showed no clear correlation between spending and outcomes, as some states with bigger budgets scored worse and some with lower per-pupil expenditure excelled.

“A lot of people are calling to just spend more, and they just trust that that will lead to better outcomes,” said Patrick Graff, senior fellow with the American Federation for Children. “But there are many states in which they have spent a lot more, and they’re doing a good bit worse.”

Critics of public education instead blame administrative bloat, low academic standards and a lack of school choice for stagnating test scores.

When commenting on New York City’s proposed wealth tax, Jeff Bezos reiterated money can’t fix a broken system, slamming NYC’s public schools in the process.

“If we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive, we’d have to charge you a $100 delivery fee, and then when the package did finally arrive, it’d have the wrong item in it anyway,” Bezos said.