Background/Footnotes: In 1971, the Supreme Court of the United States decided one of the earliest legal cases regarding religion and school choice--a case that had originated in Rhode Island. Before this decision, the state's practice had been to give salary bonuses to private school teachers, including those at Catholic schools, who did not teach religious courses and used public school material to teach courses also taught in public schools. The Court ended this practice in Lemon v. Kurzman, which set the precedent that state actions "must have a secular legislative purpose... [I]ts principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion; [and] the statute must not foster 'an excessive government entanglement with religion.'"[1]

On June 30, 1995, then-Governor Lincoln Almond, a Republican, signed into law the Act to Establish Charter Schools. The law authorized the creation of as many as 20 charter schools, which were to serve no more than 4 percent of the students in the state. Only the Rhode Island Board of Regents has the power to authorize a charter school, and it can do so only after a local school committee or the state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education had approved the application. All teachers in a charter school must be certified by the state and are covered by the district bargaining agreement.[2]

In 1997, Senate Bill 2090 would have provided a tax credit of up to $500 for education expenses, including tuition. A similar bill, S.B. 2297, was introduced in 1999. Both bills died in committee.[3]

In 2001, an education tax credit bill was introduced. S.B. 74 would have authorized a tax credit for up to 20 percent of the first $150 of a student's educational expenses, including transportation, nonreligious textbooks, tutoring, and computer technology. Tuition was not included. The bill died in committee.

Two tax credit bills, House Bill 7075 and S.B. 2240, were introduced during the 2002 legislative session. These bills would have created a personal income tax credit of $200 ($250 for joint filers) for contributions to scholarship organizations. They also would have authorized corporate income tax credits of up to 75 percent for such contributions, but not to exceed $100,000. Both bills died in committee.[4]

More tax credit legislation was introduced in 2003. H.B. 5426 would have created tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations. The credits could not have exceeded $200 for an individual and $250 per couple. The bill was referred to the House Finance Committee in February.[5] S.B. 179, a similar bill, was referred to the Senate Finance Committee in January. No further action was taken.[6]

In April 2003, the Governor's Education Transition Team, formed at the request of Governor Don Carcieri, produced a report on suggested reforms for the state's school system. The Team's proposals included statewide open enrollment, the creation of more nontraditional schools, removing the cap on the number of possible charter schools, and creating a voucher program.[7]

In the spring of 2004, Governor Carcieri proposed an increase in the number of charter schools and stated an intention to devote an additional $5.7 million to Rhode Island's charter schools. He also pledged to lift the cap on the number of charter schools each community can have (currently set at two charter schools per community and four for the entire city of Providence).[8]

The Rhode Island General Assembly, however, passed a charter school moratorium for the 2005-2006 school year as part of its annual appropriations legislation.[9]

In August 2004, a comparative study of Providence, Rhode Island's charter schools and their public school district counterparts showed that the charter schools scored higher in every grade level and every assessment criterion except for 10th grade math, in which scores differed by less than one percentage point.[10] The study also notes that when demographic characteristics are disaggregated "charters have a higher percentage of African Americans, Hispanics, and economically challenged youth meeting or exceeding the standard in ELA [English Language Arts] and math than the district."[11]

Senator Dominick Ruggerio (D-District 6) introduced bill S. 2268 in February 2004, to offer a tax credit to match dollar-for-dollar (up to $200 for individuals, $250 for married couples) donations to a tuition scholarship program. S. 2268  received no action before the adjournment of the session.[12]

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