A new House study commission created by Rep. Terri Cortvriend will hold its organizational meeting Thursday to examine whether Rhode Island school districts could share services to cut costs.
The commission, created by legislation Cortvriend sponsored, meets at 4 p.m. in Room 135 at the State House. No public testimony will be taken at the organizational meeting, according to the House.
“When our school districts are trying to stretch every dollar to be able to provide for our students, sharing the costs and benefits of certain services could really help,” Cortvriend, D-Portsmouth, said in a statement. “There could be services like curriculum directors, financial services or staff development that could be shared by two or more districts to serve both at a lower cost to each.”
Cortvriend represents District 72, covering Portsmouth and Middletown.
The 13-member panel includes Cortvriend, Rep. Rebecca Kislak, D-Providence, and Rep. Sherry Roberts, R-West Greenwich; Justine Oliva, director of policy and research at the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, a business-backed research group; Mario Carreno, chief operations officer at the state Department of Education; Bridget Almon of the National Education Association of Rhode Island; Maribeth Calabro, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals; Narragansett Superintendent Peter J. Cummings, representing the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association; Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees; Melissa Travis, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association; Westerly High School Assistant Principal John Connell; Smithfield High School student Rocco Papa; and Lisa Vura-Weis, serving as a member of the public with experience in business consolidation and shared services.
The meeting will be televised by Capitol Television on Cox channels 15 and 61, i3Broadband channel 15 and Verizon channel 34, and livestreamed.
