RIDE officials outline legal steps and governance choices for Newport–Middletown regionalization

Drew Eccleston, deputy commissioner at the Rhode Island Department of Education, told a joint Newport–Middletown council workshop that RIDE will provide technical assistance but “takes no stance” on whether the towns should regionalize. Eccleston said state law lays out a framework for regionalization — including the need to establish an elected regional school board with representation proportional to student enrollment — but leaves many details to local agreement.

Why it matters: decisions about board makeup, budget allocation and supervision determine who sets academic priorities for students across both municipalities and how protections for vulnerable student groups are enforced.

RIDE explained that a regional school board would hire the superintendent and adopt budgets; a joint finance committee commonly handles allocation decisions between the member communities. Anthony Catona, RIDE’s chief legal counsel, said the statutes in the Title 16 chapter on regionalization provide a template but that language from a 2022 special act is largely moot unless both communities adopt it or the Legislature amends it. “You can change it, amend it, and resubmit legislation,” Catona said when asked whether the 2022 provisions remained binding.

Councilors pressed RIDE officials on representation, accountability and the meaning of “administrative” regionalization. RIDE staff said the law does not use that term and that communities can craft arrangements that range from limited shared administration to full consolidation. Eccleston suggested communities build clear board goals and require monthly updates on student performance; he said RIDE can run analyses of disaggregated performance data and accountability measures (RICAS, SAT, PSAT and SurveyWorks) to flag gaps for student subgroups and to inform guardrails a regional board should set.

On labor and contracts, officials said existing collective bargaining agreements remain in effect until they expire; a future regional district would negotiate successor agreements covering employees across the unified district. RIDE and outside counsel noted that prior draft legislation (2022) included provisions addressing transition liabilities and bargaining, but that any current framework will need to be reviewed and potentially re-drafted.

What’s next: council members from both towns endorsed moving forward with information-gathering and forming an Academic Integration Advisory Committee (AIAC) to advise voters and the councils. RIDE said it will share templates, enrollment dashboards, and examples from Rhode Island regional districts to support local decision-makers. The councils also discussed drafting legislation and possible timelines for a ballot question.

The workshop closed with the councils agreeing to continue discussions and to pursue further study and community engagement before any voter referendum.