Legislation

We supported this bill which proposes measures to increase teacher diversity.

We strongly supported a bill which would have ensured that information on school-based arrests or SRO-related incidents on school campuses, including the number of SROs employed by a school, was made publicly available.

The ACLU has long opposed the introduction of SROs to school campuses in RI, as their presence can inappropriately redefine normal adolescent behaviors into issues of criminal justice. Two pieces of legislation would address the presence of SRO’s on campuses – one positively, and one negatively.

Though bullying is a scourge, a piece of legislation which would have statutorily created an “Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights” drew our opposition over concerns about its breadth.

We expressed concerns about a piece of legislation which would have required an “individual career and academic plan (ICAP)” for all Rhode Island students in grades six through twelve.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has several times rejected the notion that students have a judicially enforceable right to an education; this bill would have ensured and constitutionally established this right as fundamental.

Legislation was introduced to ensure both that no student can be excluded from a school activity due to a lack of income and that no parent or guardian can be compelled to give money that they cannot afford for their student to participate in these activities.

We supported a critical piece of legislation which would have largely eliminated the ability for a K-5 student to be given an out-of-school suspension and strengthened the current reporting requirements for school districts.

This bill would have instructed the Commissioner of Education to develop strategies with the intent of bolstering the retention and recruitment of minority teachers and administrators in Rhode Island public schools.