Does Bristol Warren get its fair share of state aid?

Our analysis shows Bristol Warren is 13th in the state

By Scott Pickering
Posted 3/5/21

Many locals party blame the State of Rhode Island for shortfalls in public school funding. It’s true — state aid to education has been decreasing in Bristol Warren for years, even …

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Does Bristol Warren get its fair share of state aid?

Our analysis shows Bristol Warren is 13th in the state

Posted

Many locals party blame the State of Rhode Island for shortfalls in public school funding. It’s true — state aid to education has been decreasing in Bristol Warren for years, even as it has been increasing in other districts. The state’s public education funding formula, adopted a decade ago, made it so.

The funding formula is very complex, but at the highest levels, it incorporates both a district’s student enrollment and a its socio-economic profile to determine how much funding it receives. Distressed districts and large districts receive the most money.

The Bristol Phoenix analysis below focuses on how much funding each district is receiving per-pupil.

Shown are the total state education aid and October enrollments for this school year. Districts are ranked highest to lowest by the level of state funding per-student.

While the distressed communities of Central Falls, Providence and Woonsocket are receiving three or four times the funding per-student, Bristol Warren still ranks 13th out of 34 districts in the state. The local district is receiving more state aid per-student than nearly all comparable suburban communities — nearly three times more than Portsmouth and Barrington.

The districts with asterisks (*) are the state’s four regional school districts. Bristol Warren is getting more money, and more money per-student, than all of them.

 

District
State Aid to Education (FY ’21)
Student Enrollment (FY ’21)
Education Aid
Per Student

1

Central Falls

$45,680,069

2,780

$16,432

2

Providence

$272,263,071

22,440

$12,133

3

Woonsocket

$68,991,504

5,742

$12,015

4

Pawtucket

$92,823,637

8,450

$10,985

5

West Warwick

$29,535,239

3,551

$8,317

6

East Providence

$36,377,563

5,041

$7,216

7

North Providence

$25,275,682

3,525

$7,170

8

Newport

$14,034,125

1,995

$7,035

9

Burrillville

$14,352,095

2,106

$6,815

10

Cranston

$69,762,285

10,403

$6,706

11

Johnston

$19,127,284

3,110

$6,150

12

Coventry

$23,564,535

4,390

$5,368

13

Bristol Warren*

$14,514,094

3,061

$4,742

14

Lincoln

$15,198,686

3,213

$4,730

15

Warwick

$38,441,937

8,140

$4,723

16

Cumberland

$20,799,151

4,602

$4,520

17

Tiverton

$7,475,572

1,691

$4,421

18

Chariho*

$13,628,447

3,143

$4,336

19

Middletown

$7,894,209

1,955

$4,038

20

Foster-Glocester*

$8,491,478

2,114

$4,017

21

North Smithfield

$6,206,522

1,623

$3,824

22

Exeter-West Greenwich*

$5,696,331

1,564

$3,642

23

Westerly

$8,255,191

2,433

$3,393

24

North Kingstown

$11,867,847

3,923

$3,025

25

Smithfield

$6,227,712

2,364

$2,634

26

Scituate

$2,727,973

1,197

$2,279

27

Little Compton

$397,665

209

$1,903

28

Narragansett

$2,261,373

1,221

$1,852

29

Barrington

$6,148,515

3,388

$1,815

30

South Kingstown

$4,853,438

2,750

$1,765

31

Portsmouth

$3,833,800

2,294

$1,671

32

East Greenwich

$3,490,911

2,532

$1,379

33

New Shoreham

$178,491

148

$1,206

34

Jamestown

$405,580

462

$878

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.