Gov. Dan McKee (D-RI) signed into law a three-year ban on new charter schools in Rhode Island on Thursday. He told reporters that “the circumstances have changed,” despite saying five years ago that there was “no room for compromise.”
The moratorium lowers the charter school cap from 35 to 28. The law also retroactively killed charters not approved before July 1, 2025, blocking the highly anticipated De La Comunidad Bilingual School, which was meant to serve black and Hispanic students from Providence, Pawtucket, and Cranston.
McKee describes the law as a procedural measure to straighten out Rhode Island’s public school financial and enrollment woes. But Giselle, an immigrant mother whose daughter attends the bilingual charter school Nuestro Mundo, isn’t convinced.
To her, the law means fewer options for families such as hers.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Giselle told the Washington Examiner through a translator. “If they’re seeing the kids are learning and that parents want more of these options because they’re able to see the growth in their kids, then they should invest more.”
English isn’t Giselle’s first language, but she could tell her daughter’s education wasn’t engaging enough from the homework Nicole brought home.
Giselle says the change at Nuestro Mundo was immediate and structured. Nicole, now in sixth grade, entered the school needing one-on-one sessions to catch up with her peers. Within a year, the mother of two noted, Nicole went from needing extra academic support to excelling in English, math, and other extracurriculars.
“They teach kids to have a love for reading,” Giselle said. “Nuestro Mundo has kids read every day for 30 minutes, which allows them to develop their reading skills.”
Her observations are well documented in the data. A Stanford Center for Research on Education Outcomes study shows that Rhode Island charter school students gain an additional 90 days of learning in reading and 88 days in math. Rhode Island public schools should be emulating their charter peers, given that only 36% of Rhode Island students are proficient in English language arts and just 30% are proficient in math.
Parents such as Giselle intuitively understand this. That’s why 9,372 children competed for only 3,170 available seats this past school year. About 60% of parents opposed the charter school pause, according to a Pete Brodnitz poll commissioned by the Rhode Island League of Public Charter Schools.
“Nothing about this bill improves educational outcomes for children in Rhode Island,” the pro-charter group said in a statement, “and it does nothing to address the declining enrollment across our public education system.”
The league is right. Charter schools aren’t the reason for the state’s postpandemic decline in public school enrollment or the money its districts are hemorrhaging.
Rhode Island, like other northeastern states, has stagnating demographics and families leaving, which a moratorium on successful public education options cannot reverse.
As for the tax dollars charters supposedly siphon from public schools, Providence Public Schools recently cut more than 100 staff positions, citing a $16.5 million budget gap. State legislators want taxpayers to believe that charter schools caused the shortfall. But the district attributed just $400,000, or 2.4%, of the gap to increased charter school tuition payments.
The Ocean State’s embattled public school enrollment isn’t the only circumstance that has changed for McKee. Campaign finance records show he received more than $5,000 from a political action committee affiliated with the National Education Association Rhode Island, a teachers union. Worse, Democrat Valarie Lawson, who was elected president of the Senate in April 2025, is also the president of NEA RI.
RHODE ISLAND CHARTER SCHOOL BAN IS A TEACHERS UNION POWER PLAY
“When the Senate President also serves as president of NEA RI, the state’s largest teachers union, her daytime job is to advance union priorities, and her nighttime job is to set the Senate calendar and shape legislation,” said Janie Segui-Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Stop the Wait RI, another pro-school choice advocacy group, in a statement.
Well said. In these pages, we noted that McKee’s decision on the charter school ban offered a clear test of his character. The “circumstances” surrounding student success have not changed since 2021. But McKee has — embracing union pressure instead of keeping his promise to Rhode Island families. Parents should take note at the ballot box this November.