The House Labor Committee heard testimony last night on House Bill 5142 that would expand the use of binding arbitration in contract disputes involving teachers and other school employees, including testimony from Brian Bishop, OSPRI Fellow on Regulatory Policy.

 

Brian has previously written, and more extensively written, on the constitutional issues involved and we we have more research to follow. But the Committee acknowledged that all towns are under tremendous financial pressure and there was a suggestion that relief from state mandates was required.

 

Representatives asked for input from superintendents, town councilors, and school committee members explaining which state mandates they would like eliminated, and why.
 
Later this year, the Ocean State Policy Research Institute will unveil a new section of our transparency project - Rhode Island Schools - which will provide financial, performance, and structural information for every school district in the state. Part of that project is a listing of state mandates from the Rhode Island Department of Education. In light of the requests from members of the House Labor Committee, and the difficulty in obtaining this information, we would like to provide it now to help facilitate input to the Committee.
 
Please follow this link to find a list of the RIDE Mandates.

 

And please visit Rhode Island Votes to sign up for legislative notices on bills you are interested in.

 

About OSPRI:
 
Created in 2007, our work is focused on crafting sound public policy based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and traditional American values. We offer timely research and analysis on important issues to be shared with elected officials, the media, business leaders, community organizations and individual citizens. In recent months, we have been responsible for such successful projects as the Transparency Train, a public financial and legislative information repository, as well as regular updates published and available on our website and companion blog.
 
About The Transparency Train:
 
The Transparency Train Web Portal (www.transparencytrain.org) provides access to a variety of websites designed to present public information in a Google-style searchable format. These sites include: