BY VINAYA SAKSENA

CUMBERLAND — A pair of bills that would allow for a new type of school proposed by Mayor Daniel McKee is awaiting approval by the state’s general assembly, while a consultant helping the mayor with his proposal has released a major report on the matter.

In the past year, McKee has voiced concern about the performance and financial sustainability of the current public school setup, and has broached the idea of both lifting the state’s moratorium on charter schools and introducing a regional “mayoral academy.”
These ideas coincided with the beginning of his involvement in the Coalition of Communities Improving Rhode Island, a group of mayors and town administrators working to find ways to reduce government costs, having already begun looking into the possibility of sharing healthcare costs.
And now, it appears that one of McKee’s educational ideas is gaining traction at the state level. Legislation has been introduced in the general assembly that would allow the mayor and his counterparts in other communities to open academies like the one McKee began talking of last year. The bill in question was introduced in the house by Rep. Kenneth Vaudreuil and co-sponsored by Reps. Peter Kilmartin, William McManus, Agostinho F. Silva and Gordon Fox.
The bill, which would effectively amend the state’s legislation on charter schools to allow for an academy opened by a mayor, was awaiting discussion by the house finance committee as of press time.
A companion piece of legislation was expected to be introduced by Sen. Daniel Issa, who represents Cumberland, Pawtucket and Central Falls- three of the communities that would likely be involved in the mayor’s proposed regional school. Late last week, the mayor said he was happy to see the progress his proposal was making.
“Progress has been made on the concept of a mayoral academy,” McKee said. “Our report is complete. We’re very happy with the report that was done.”
The report in question was drafted by Public Impact, a consulting firm whose co-director, Bryan C. Hassel, has been working closely with McKee on the concept of the mayoral academy. The report, titled “Boosting Performance & Containing Costs Through Mayoral Academies,” identifies what it says are shortcomings in the state’s current public education system and possible solutions to be realized through the mayoral academy concept. The
report suggests that education costs continue to rise, while the quality of education does not see an improvement paralleling this increase. This, the report says, also threatens the economic vitality of the state, with the state of the education system making Rhode Island less likely to attract both new businesses and new residents. Thus, it adds, the continually rising costs associated with conventional public education cannot be sustained in the long term. The mayoral academy model, it says, would be an innovative approach to solving this problem.
“If pursued in the Blackstone Valley area, Mayoral Academies would be a nationally unique model for public education,” the report reads. “While mayors elsewhere have become more active in public education in recent years, Mayoral Academies would be the first example of a mayor-led regional network of public schools running parallel to the existing system.”
Under the revisions proposed to charter school regulations, a mayoral academy would be defined as a charter school created by a mayor “acting through a non-profit organization established for said purpose.” Such schools would serve both urban and suburban schools, with an equal number of students to be accepted from each involved community on a lottery basis. The school would be overseen by a board of trustees, which would include the community’s mayor or administrator.
Under the legislation, employees of this new type of school would not be considered public employees, unlike employees of conventional charter schools. However, those running the schools could request to have their employees re-classified as public employees if they so chose.