2022 RI Governor's race: on Education


Ashley Kalus: Pay our teachers more, promote school choice, fund pre-K

Education--a quality public education--is the great equalizer. It allows for the pursuit of economic opportunity. We need to make education a constitutional right, pay our teachers more, fund universal Pre-K, invest in technical education, rework our funding formula to ensure communities most in need like Pawtucket, Woonsocket, and Central Falls are not being left behind, and promote school choice because no child should ever be trapped in a failing school.
Source: Press release on 2022 Rhode Island Governor campaign website Jun 23, 2022

Dan McKee: As mayor created the first mayoral charter school

As Cumberland mayor, he created Blackstone Valley Prep, the first mayoral charter school in the state and template for independent public schools. It remains his most high-profile accomplishment in public life. The Blackstone Valley Prep CEO calls McKee a "great man who cares deeply for children. He's a family man, married to a lifelong educator, and I think he understands as well as anyone how important and hard it is to be a public school teacher," Chiappetta told The Journal.
Source: Providence Journal on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Jan 8, 2021

Dan McKee: Charter schools support criticized by public sector unions

McKee successfully lobbied the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing mayoral academies, a controversial achievement in Rhode Island education that's pitted public-sector unions against him ever since. During his re-election campaign for mayor in 2008, the National Education Association of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals sent out direct mailings and paid for TV ads claiming McKee was destroying public education.
Source: WPRI on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Jan 7, 2021

Dan McKee: COVID and schools: locally driven, state supported

McKee is looking to working more with local communities in managing the impact of COVID-19 on schools. "It should be locally driven, state supported and also a local decision," McKee said of local districts deciding when they can resume full operation of their schools. "The state should play a role in providing the information to the local districts so that they can make the best decisions that they can," McKee said.
Source: The Independent on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Jan 21, 2021

Dan McKee: Set up after-school programs to make up time lost to COVID

We can be intentional about getting on top of the hours that have been lost. You bring in educators, retired, under-employed teachers, current teachers, and we run a reading program. It's kind of like when you were 10 years old, taking a piano lesson. We structure curricula, and we have these programs that families sign their kids up for, and they come in a couple times a week for a reading lesson, or a math lesson, or a music lesson.
Source: The74million.org on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Feb 10, 2021

Dan McKee: School reform by partnering without being demanding

I think it's going to look like partnering with the current structure without being demanding, right? You're going to have to create partnerships, and you're going to have to listen to the people who are running those schools, including the labor groups, and you're going to sit down and say, "How are things going and how do we make things better?" You can't just drive in and demand change. Our approach is going to be, "OK let's, let's hear what you think can happen."
Source: The74million.org on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Feb 10, 2021

Dan McKee: Make two years free community college program permanent

Q: Sunset provision [expiration of program] on free community college program--will you make it permanent?

A: Yeah, I think that that's good. On the community college level that first two years, I think we're going to support that. And again, I think that President Biden's going to actually make that more real than less real, too. I'm hearing that the Pell Grants are going to get increased. So I think in that area, I think things look pretty bright for students in Rhode Island.

Source: The74million.org on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Feb 10, 2021

Matt Brown: Smaller class sizes, at least $60,000 for teacher salary

[Brown heads this RI coalition].
Source: GoLocalProv.com on 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race Sep 22, 2021

Nellie Gorbea: Pass "Right to A Quality Education" constitutional amendment

Support and pass a constitutional amendment for a "Right to A Quality Education", which shows our state is clear on its priorities. This constitutional amendment holds us and future generations accountable for ensuring our children receive the education they deserve. Become a national leader in providing high quality care and early childhood education for our youngest children by providing affordable, universal access to early childhood care and pre-K programs by the end of my first term.
Source: 2022 Rhode Island Governor campaign website NellieGorbea.com Jun 26, 2022

Helena Foulkes: Promised a single term if school test scores don't improve

We've never had a governor who has committed to be personally accountable for the results of our education system–it's time to change that. I've promised a single term as governor if school test scores don't improve. Our kids are our future, and we have a moral and economic responsibility to give them the amazing education they deserve. My plan calls for more teaching assistants in K-8 classrooms, universal PreK, expanding the RI Promise Scholarship to cover tuition for education majors.
Source: GoLocal24 (New England) on 2022 Rhode Island Governor race Aug 22, 2022

  • The above quotations are from 2022 Rhode Island Gubernatorial race: debates and news coverage.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Education.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Gina Raimondo on Education.
Candidates and political leaders on Education:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R)
Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R)
Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Feb 14, 2023