Modernizing School Facilities and Supporting Teachers
- Championed and passed a $250 million statewide school construction bond in 2022 to ensure that students are learning in modern facilities that support their needs. The School Building Authority collaborates with municipalities and school districts on a variety of school construction projects, from teardowns and new builds to renewal and modernization.
- Invested $30 million in additional funding for School Building Authority’s Facility Equity Initiative (FEI), ensuring underserved school communities receive an equitable share of state school construction funding by prioritizing funds for the districts with the highest reimbursement rates and need.
- Launched the $15 million 21st Century Technology and Equipment Fund, providing innovative technology and equipment that foster a STEM project-based learning approach and Career and Technical Education pathways that ensure all students have access to high-quality learning spaces.
- Sustained the Wavemaker Fellowship program to provide student loan reimbursement to recent college graduates who teach in Rhode Island K-12 schools.
- Partnered with University Instructors to launch a free, comprehensive preparation program to help teacher candidates pass Praxis tests, which is a key step toward teacher certification in Rhode Island.
- Launched Educate401.org, an online recruitment and resource hub for current and prospective educators. The website offers a clear and user- friendly certification roadmap that guides aspiring teachers through the process of becoming certified educators in Rhode Island.
- Awarded $7.5 million in RIDE’s Learning Inside Out Outdoor Classroom grants supporting 89 projects across 29 LEAs aimed to create, enhance, and support access to natural resources for all students in the form of outdoor classrooms or schoolyard habitats. An additional $500,000 is supporting professional development throughout the state in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.