§ 16-3.2-1. Declaration of policy.
As part of the effort to transform education in Rhode Island, the general assembly
is committed to developing and supporting strategies that foster cultures of excellence,
innovation, and continuous improvement in Rhode Island schools. The general assembly
believes that all district schools benefit from effective leadership, strong labor/management
collaboration, strong community support and engagement, and the autonomy and flexibility
to continuously improve instruction and implement and adopt strategies that meet the
needs of their students. The general assembly therefore in this act establishes empowerment
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§ 16-3.2-1. Declaration of policy.
As part of the effort to transform education in Rhode Island, the general assembly
is committed to developing and supporting strategies that foster cultures of excellence,
innovation, and continuous improvement in Rhode Island schools. The general assembly
believes that all district schools benefit from effective leadership, strong labor/management
collaboration, strong community support and engagement, and the autonomy and flexibility
to continuously improve instruction and implement and adopt strategies that meet the
needs of their students. The general assembly therefore in this act establishes empowerment
schools, which shall remain within a public-school district, under the district leadership
of the superintendent and school committee, but which shall be managed collaboratively
on site by the principal and the faculty, as an additional opportunity for supporting
more high-performing and innovative schools within the Rhode Island system of public
education. A school that volunteers to be an empowerment school, as defined in this
chapter, shall have unprecedented levels of regulatory and statutory flexibility;
school-based autonomy, including autonomy over budget; flexibility in school-based
instructional policies and professional practices defined through shared leadership;
and be uniquely positioned to create compelling learning environments responsive to
increased student and parent/family empowerment. Similarly, in this act, the general
assembly establishes the affirmative right for students and their parents/families
to enroll in an empowerment school that is different than their assigned school based
on residence, in order to seek innovative instructional policies and practices that
best match their learning needs, so long as the empowerment school has elected, as
part of its empowerment plan, to accept students from other schools within the student's
district of residence.