Dan McKee on Education

	Dan McKee on Education

Plan to reach Massachusetts education levels by 2030

In Providence there are already eight new or like new construction projects in progress with additional new schools in the early planning stages. And I'm proud to say that soon, Providence will have 50 percent of its students in new facilities--a tenfold increase from 2017. This is progress and we're going to stay the course. And this isn't just happening in Providence. Statewide, 22 major new school projects are currently under design or construction.

It is time for us to make a targeted modification to the funding formula to improve outcomes and support students with greater needs. The budget will invest an additional $57 million in K-12 education and another $4 million for out-of-school learning programs. We will fully fund our multilingual learners and high-cost special education to address the needs of these students. Within the first 100 days of my full term, we will be outlining a plan to reach Massachusetts education levels by 2030.

Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the R.I. legislature , Jan 17, 2023

For universal Pre-K through a mixed delivery system

Work towards ensuring all children, starting in infancy, have access to high-quality affordable childcare in which no family in the state must spend more than 7% of income to access high quality childcare (the federal standard of childcare affordability).
Implement universal, high-quality Pre-K for children ages 3 and 4 through a mixed delivery system.
Ensure that children enter Kindergarten ready to learn and are on a path to reading proficiently in third grade.

Source: Governor press release "Rhode Island 2030" , Oct 15, 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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