State Reps Seek Guidance From Arne Duncan On Funding Formula
Posted by: David Segal
in Education
on March 09, 2010 
Last week about a dozen of us sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, asking him to weigh in on efforts to institute a funding formula here. Here's the proto-press release
Several State Representatives, including David Segal, Arthur Handy, and others, have written a letter to United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, urging him to provide guidance on the effort to adopt a school funding formula in Rhode Island.
The letter notes that, as the Obama administration moves forward with dispensing its Race To The Top funds, "in one vital respect, Rhode Island should more appropriately be said to be racing from the very bottom: Ours is the only state in the nation without a school funding formula."
The letter continues, "We ask you simply, is it not the case that our application for Race to the Top funds would be looked upon much more favorably were we to expeditiously adopt a fair and equitable school funding formula, to take effect immediately?"
According to Segal, "Now that Rhode Island has been deemed a finalist for RTTT funding, the lack of a school funding formula is the elephant in the room. We're the only state in the country without one, meaning funding is whimsical, cities and towns can't plan long-term education spending, and most cities get far less money than they ought to. At this juncture in the RTTT process, guidance from Duncan is critical, and a statement urging us to adopt a formula quickly would be hard to ignore."
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