Funding and Finance | RI Department of Education

In Rhode Island, we support our public schools with an annual investment of $2.3 billion. To ensure that we invest these taxpayer dollars wisely, we have developed an education-finance system that takes into account both student need and district capacity. In addition, we seek every opportunity for statewide efficiencies to help save taxpayer dollars and to provide additional resources to advance student achievement.

Fact

$2.3 Billion

The amount of money Rhode Island spends annually on public education.

See more school district financial data

Take a Look at the Books

We use federal, state, and local funds, as well as some grants from nonprofit foundations, to support public education in Rhode Island. RIDE has developed several reporting tools to enable the public to monitor how we use these funds to support our schools and our students.

Our tools:

State Education Aid: What It Is and How It Works

The state provides direct financial support to public schools and students through state aid. State aid is formula aid distributed to local education agencies (LEAs), including school districts and charter schools; categorical funding outside of the distributed aid; and funds distributed to districts once a year for specific purposes. These might include a per pupil amount to each school district for each group home bed licensed in the district, reimbursements for providing textbooks to non-public schools and a partial subsidy for school breakfast meals served.

Learn more about state education aid.

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2023 Vision for Education

Learn more about RIDE's strategic plan

Current Funding Formula Aid Amounts

Find the funding formula amounts for the current fiscal year