Title 16, Title 16 Title 16

(a) Unless the responsibility is otherwise delegated by this chapter, the entire care, control, and management of all public school interests of the several cities and towns shall be vested in the school committees of the several cities and towns. School committees shall have, in…

(a) School committees shall adopt the following code of basic management principles and ethical school standards: The (District) does hereby establish a code of basic principles and ethical standards for school committee members acting individually and collectively as boards of e…

Notwithstanding any other law or rule, any two (2) or more school committees may establish joint purchasing agreements between and among themselves or with the Rhode Island Association of School Committees for the purpose of purchasing goods and services. The Rhode Island Associa…

(a) The legislature hereby finds and declares that there is a need for an advisory council on school finances to strengthen the fiscal accountability of school districts, regional school districts, state schools and charter schools in Rhode Island. The council shall be composed o…

(a) The office of auditor general and the department of elementary and secondary education shall promulgate a uniform system of accounting, including a chart of accounts based on the recommendations of the advisory council on school finances, and require all accounts of the schoo…

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law, or the provisions of any municipality’s home rule charter, to the contrary, for purposes of funding any unfunded liability for other post-employment benefits including, but not limited to, health care and dental ca…

Notwithstanding any other law or rule, any two (2) or more school committees may establish joint purchasing agreements between and among themselves or with the Rhode Island Society of Technology Educators (“RISTE”), a domestic, nonprofit corporation, for the purposes of establish…

The purpose of this chapter is to assist communities within the state to operate schools on a more efficient and economic basis through the development of regional school districts and to enhance the services of the schools in line with present day needs.

If a majority of the voters voting on the question in each of the several cities or towns shall vote in the affirmative to accept this chapter, the provisions of this chapter shall apply, and the proposed regional school district shall be deemed to be established in accordance wi…

(a) A regional school district established under the provisions of § 16-3-10 shall be a body politic and corporate with all the powers and duties conferred by law upon school committees and with the following additional powers and duties: (1) To adopt a name and a corporate seal.…

(a) The regional school district financial meeting to which all the voters qualified to vote in their respective cities or towns on any proposition for the imposition of a tax or the expenditure of money shall be held on the first Monday in February of each year at eight o’clock …

The regional school district financial meeting shall determine the regional school district budget as to overall amounts, the decision as to the levying of taxes covering the functions of the regional school district, the purchase of land and the construction of buildings, the ex…

In cities and towns that do not have a regional school district financial meeting, the regional school committee or an alternative mechanism approved by the board of regents for elementary and secondary education shall determine the regional school district budget as to overall a…

The moderator of the regional school district financial meeting shall be the chairperson of the regional school district committee and the clerk of the meeting shall be the clerk of the regional school district committee.

The school district financial meeting or the regional representatives under the provisions of § 16-3-14 shall not be subject to tax limitations for operational purposes except as specifically provided in the agreement.

The regional school district financial meeting or regional representatives under the provisions of § 16-3-14 shall be subject to the statutory debt limit for incurring debt for capital outlay purposes in those regional school districts embracing all the educational functions of t…

In any instance where the regional school district embraces functions formerly performed by towns and cities within their borders which require the utilization of a plant, the plant shall be transferred to the regional school district or rented by it, and if transferred the regio…

(a)(1) The cost of the operation of a regional school district and the cost of payment of an indebtedness of the regional school district authorized by the regional school district financial meeting or regional representatives under the provisions of § 16-3-14 shall be borne by t…

Regional school districts may be organized for the establishment of schools for the purposes enumerated in this section: (1) To operate all schools and educational services; (2) To operate elementary or secondary schools; (3) To operate vocational or technical schools; (4) To ope…

(a) Each city or town that is a member of a regional school district shall annually appropriate a sum sufficient to pay its proportionate share of the interest on the bonds and notes issued and outstanding under authority of this chapter, and also to pay its proportionate share o…

The town or city treasurer of each town or city of the regional school district shall forward to the regional school district treasurer on July 1, October 1, January 1, and April 1 one-fourth (¼) of the amount due for the operation of the regional school district for the fiscal y…

The regional school district fiscal years shall begin on July 1.

In the event the general assembly shall enact legislation providing for financial assistance to cities and towns for school construction or for assisting the cities and towns in servicing the debt already incurred for the construction of schools, any regional school district shal…

(a) A regional school district organized prior to January 1, 1959, shall be governed by the provisions of the act establishing it and the provisions of this chapter not inconsistent with it. (b) Amendments to the date of financial district meetings shall not be considered inconsi…

The cost of conducting the studies required under § 16-3-3.1 shall be borne by an annual state appropriation. The commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall establish regulations necessary to implement this section.

Regional school districts formed under the provisions of this chapter to operate any one of the types of schools listed in § 16-3-2 may establish any one or more of the following types of services for all the pupils of the regional school district if so specified in the agreement…

(a) The commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall order the creation of a regional school district planning board for the purpose of conducting a study of the feasibility of regionalization or other cooperative ventures if any of the following conditions are found …

(a) Any city or town, by majority vote of its appropriating authority, may create a special unpaid committee to be known as a regional school district planning committee, to consist of three (3) members, two (2) of whom shall be appointed by the president of the city or town coun…

Regional school district planning committees from any two (2) or more cities or towns may join together to form a regional school district planning board or boards. A regional school district planning board shall organize immediately upon its formation by the election of a chairp…

It shall be the duty of the regional school district planning board to study the advisability of establishing a regional school district, its organization, operation, and control, and of constructing, maintaining, and operating a school or schools and the types of services to be …

The regional district planning board may recommend that there shall be established a regional school district which may include all the cities or towns represented by its membership, or alternatively, any specified combination of the cities or towns. If the regional district plan…

Any other provisions of this chapter or any other general or public law to the contrary notwithstanding, members of the regional district school committee shall be selected from voting districts as nearly equal in population as is practicable within each city or town in the distr…

The North Providence school department shall be transferred from the Providence vocational area to the William E. Davies vocational area.

Copies of the agreement drawn by the regional district planning board in accordance with § 16-3-7 shall be submitted to the state board of regents for elementary and secondary education for review and recommendation to the several cities or towns for their acceptance.

Each city or town council of the respective cities or towns shall, upon receipt of a recommendation that a regional school district should be formed, and of a proposed agreement submitted in accordance with the provisions of §§ 16-3-4 to 16-3-8, and with the approval required by …

The general treasurer with the advice of the governor shall have full power to regulate the custody and safekeeping of the permanent fund for the support of public schools, and, subject to the provisions of chapter 10 of title 35, shall keep the fund securely invested in bonds or…

The money that shall be paid into the state treasury by auctioneers, for duties accruing to the use of the state, is appropriated, and the money shall annually be added to the school fund.

Whenever any money appropriated to any city or town from the state treasury, for the support of its public schools shall have been forfeited by the city or town, the money shall be added to the school fund, and shall forever remain a part of the school fund.

The income from the fund is appropriated to be used for the promotion and support of public education. The board of regents for elementary and secondary education may adopt rules and regulations for the expenditure of these funds. In expending the income the board shall first con…

(a) The general assembly shall review the adequacy of the permanent school fund on a regular basis and may make any appropriations to carry out the purposes of this chapter as it deems necessary. In addition, the board of regents for elementary and secondary education is authoriz…

Funds shall be provided to the state board of regents for elementary and secondary education for vocational education for: (1) Establishment of a program for the training of practical nurses in the Woonsocket area. (2) After the establishment of a program for the training of prac…

The general assembly shall annually appropriate any sum as it may deem necessary for the support and maintenance of public evening schools in the several cities or towns of the state, to be apportioned by the board of regents for elementary and secondary education for the support…

The commissioner of elementary and secondary education may, for violation or neglect of law or for violation or neglect of rules and regulations in pursuance of law by any city or town or city or town officer or school committee, or for nonpayment of tuition owed by one community…

Any community that does not comply with the provisions of §§ 16-21-7, 16-21-9, 16-21-12, 16-21-14, and 16-38-2 shall be subject to the penalty provided in § 16-5-30.

(a) There is created an educational improvement block grant. (b) The dollar equivalents resulting from the difference in the statewide local tax rate as defined in § 16-7-19(a) and (b), and as divided in § 16-7-19(c), may be expended for any of the purposes set forth below: (1) P…

(a) There is created a fund of three million dollars ($3,000,000) for the purposes set forth below: (1) Two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) shall be used to make competitive grant awards to local school districts for exemplary dropout prevention programs; (2) One hundre…