Ashley Kalus

EDUCATION

Delivering a World-Class Education for All Rhode Island Children

It all starts with education.

We need to provide a world-class education to every student no matter their zip code, race, or religion. Ensuring each child receives a quality education in Rhode Island is a commitment I plan to uphold to the highest standards as Governor. Our education system, despite being one of the top 20 in the nation for per-pupil spending, continues to show abysmal outcomes. US News reports Rhode Island being 39th in the country for education, while Massachusetts is ranked 2nd. This is unacceptable. We will look to learn from the lessons of Massachusetts when they embarked on their turnaround.

Looking closer to home, The Institute for Education Policy at John Hopkins wrote a 93-page “devastating” report on the state of schools in Providence. RICAS scores from 2018 showed 17% of 3rd grade students achieved proficiency in math, compared with about 6% for 8th grade students. While that was the first year of the RICAS exam, the researchers said a similar drop-off was seen on the results of other tests since 2015. In fact, only 3% of Providence 8th graders achieved proficiency in math on the 2017 PARCC test.

In 2021, Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) scores showed only 20% of Rhode Island students are proficient in math, and 33% are proficient in English. Just recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that reading and math scores plummeted during the pandemic. Fourth-grade scores for worst performers could take decades to rebound and weigh on economic output.

This situation requires immediate attention (from all stakeholders) and innovation, not just additional funding without specific performance indicators attached. My platform for education seeks to establish a public education system in which a child’s educational outcome is not dependent on their zip code, students are set up for future success, parents’ rights are protected, teachers are supported, and families seek out opportunities in Rhode Island. I’m looking forward to working with the Commissioner, the teachers, the parents, the students, the school committees, the Mayors and Town Administrators, and Mayor-Elect Brett Smiley on turning around our education system.

I will be the Education Governor.

ASHLEY KALUS HAS A PLAN TO GET US BACK ON TRACK

Universal Pre-K

Creating a world-class education system starts with investing in our youngest students and developing a universal pre-k system that leverages existing head start capacity, while also expanding access throughout our public school system. The evidence is clear that making this investment into early learning improves outcomes, it also provides a vital service in childcare for working parents in our state. I would seek to first build this program out to be accessible to every four-year-old in our state; after that, we can explore options to expand access to three-year-olds as well.

Fix Our Funding Formula

We need to fix our funding formula to ensure that dollars are spent adequately and proportionally throughout school districts, especially with regard to low-income communities and special education funding. We need to ensure that protections are enacted to prevent communities with smaller tax bases (local funding) from being left behind. Even with changes made in 2010, RIPEC still found that low-income communities are being left behind.

Progress Based Testing

Next, we need to innovate the way we assess benchmarks and the progress of our students. Specifically, I would work to implement a progress-based testing system that would use an annual series of three short tests, administered in the fall, mid-year, and spring, that would accurately assess a student’s knowledge level at the start of the year and progress throughout. This approach ensures students who are struggling are better identified and corrective/support programs can be implemented efficiently.

While Federal law requires all public school students grades three to eight to take annual assessments, these tests do little to help close learning gaps. Education has changed significantly since the current standardized testing policy was implemented in 2001, yet testing models remain stagnant. Our children will continue to fall further behind if we do not make use of innovative solutions in regard to testing. In that vein, Rhode Island schools must utilize progress-based testing to better understand the areas in which students are struggling throughout the year. This data would be invaluable for administrators and teachers as they develop their curriculum and lesson plans. To get there, the state must change the way it tests – an example of which is Matrix sampling. With Matrix sampling, individual students are given different, shorter test sets, which produce group-level information, rather than solely individual-based information. This helps school officials in specific districts identify areas that students are falling behind in as a whole and can promote early intervention where needed. We must be open to all 21st century testing models that have a proven track record of success as we reform Rhode Island’s education system.

Closing the Achievement Gap

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the achievement gap between our students and lowered overall outcomes for our students – this can be seen clearly with RICAS score comparison from 2019 to 2021. Our primary focus must be on closing this gap; we do this through a few programs:

• Increasing options for public school choice: while we work to improve our entire education system, I also want to ensure that parents have the option to place their children in the best possible learning environment – no child should be stuck in a failing school. To this end, I will work to expand public school choice offerings both through our charter school network and traditional public schools so students in need of a better situation can find one.
• Create a target school improvement fund: Designed to allocate additional investments into schools currently falling behind, with a specific focus on improving K-3 literacy and math proficiency rates. Students must be able to read by 3rd grade.
• Improve “STREAM” Education: Refers to a well-rounded educational curriculum adapted from “STEM” – this stands for Science, Technology, Reading, Writing, Engineering, Art, and Math.
  • Goal of creating five new STREAM-focused schools (one per county) that use art and literacy to provide supplemental education to science and technology to prepare students for jobs of the future and the skills to perceive problems across multiple fields – these would be woven into our charter school system.
• Intensive tutoring: Create a one-on-one tutoring program to directly aid students struggling the most and use an individually tailored approach to improving their outcomes. This would address COVID-19 learning loss in our most vulnerable populations, as well as aid in closing the achievement gap.
• Closing the digital divide: Our economy and world are changing rapidly, moving toward increased dependency on technology – to keep up with this rapid change, we must close the digital divide in our student population by increasing high-speed Internet access and digital literacy skills.

Parental Involvement

While teachers are the primary educator for students during school hours, parents are the primary stakeholder in their children’s education. The COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning gave parents a unique look inside the inner workings of their children’s classrooms. We must continue to provide full transparency to parents and ensure their right to be involved in every facet of their child’s education is protected.

Education as a Constitutional Right

Guaranteeing quality K-12 education as a fundamental, constitutional right in Rhode Island is essential to providing a world-class education and is long overdue. It ensures students in every school throughout the state are granted the right to have the best education available and holds schools accountable to stricter quality standards and reviews. Additionally, it allows for parents to ensure their students are being given quality and appropriate education, and ensures parents can hold the state government and school districts accountable.

Building a Safe and Inclusive Learning Environment

To ensure a safe, healthy, and inclusive environment Rhode Island must increase efforts to secure our schools, increase mental health resources, and support students with developmental disabilities.

• Special Education: I will continue to support disability education for Rhode Islanders 3–22 years of age, while consistently working on expanding services, ensuring sufficient funding, and encouraging innovation to provide the best possible care and education to Rhode Islanders living with developmental disabilities.
• Increase Mental Health Resources: It has become abundantly clear more mental health resources are needed in our schools. I would work to increase the number of social workers and school psychologists in our public schools to provide resources to any student who is in need of help and catch potential problems earlier.
• Cracking down on bullying: Bullying, especially cyberbullying, continues to be a very real threat plaguing our children. I will work to sponsor programs aimed at cracking down on this behavior, as well as providing students the tools to safely, respectfully, and responsibly use social media applications.
• Increase Security: this is two-fold – first, I would support current efforts to audit the security at every school in Rhode Island and make security improvements necessary to harden buildings from external and internal threats. Second, I support placing a school resource officer (SRO) in every school. These officers can respond to threats quickly, and also provide the opportunity for students to interact directly with law enforcement – eventually improving relationships in communities.

Classroom to Career (High School Programs)

A quality public school education will make for a strong foundation to build a career – harnessing education and providing a full range of educational opportunities for students interested in traditional careers, trades, healthcare, and more will ensure Rhode Island has a well-trained workforce ready to backfill an aging one, especially in trades fields. This is accomplished through numerous pathways:

• Improving Guidance Counseling: Not every student is destined to attend a four-year college; instead many of our students are incredibly proficient and have a high potential for success in the trades. We need to install better guidance counseling to better provide a tailored approach to student outcomes to ensure each student is put on the best path for success.
• Apprenticeships/Internships: Rhode Island already has programs in place to allow high school students to intern/apprentice in certain companies in different industries. I would make it a priority to expand these offerings to give juniors and seniors as much real-world experience (and certifications) in high-demand careers. Additionally, I support expanding options for CTE courses and programming throughout Rhode Island public schools.
• Industry in classrooms: Connect educators with industry leaders to create curriculums and lesson plans that have real-world applications for in-demand jobs and skills in Rhode Island, especially manufacturing and advanced manufacturing.
• Dual Enrollment: Currently, there are pathways for students to dual enroll in both high school curriculum and college courses to gain college credit. I would work to increase enrollment in this program and create the ability for students to graduate high school with both a high diploma and an associate’s degree (2-year degree).

High-Quality Higher Education

Rhode Island has world-renowned institutions – we need to improve access and constantly be innovating our curriculums to ensure students graduate with the skills and tools needed to pursue a successful career in Rhode Island.

• Support emerging industries: This is no more apparent than at the University of Rhode Island and our growing blue economy. I will make it a priority to support educational programs and investments, like blue economy education and innovation, that train students to build the economy of our future.
• Make College More Affordable: While we work to bring down the cost of college education, I would also work to lessen the burden students face in pursuing an education by working to provide low-to-no interest loans to eligible Rhode Island students.
• Incentives to stay: We want students who graduate from our universities to stay and help drive the renaissance of our state. To this end, I would work to expand incentive programs - such as incentivizing new teachers – to keep top talent in our state.

ECONOMY

Building a Strong Rhode Island Economy

BUILDING A STRONG RHODE ISLAND ECONOMY.

As Governor, one of my foremost priorities will be to build an economy in Rhode Island that promotes opportunity, supports small businesses, leverages our educational and natural resources, and provides good paying jobs. For far too long, our state has ranked in the bottom third for economic outlook, and that is because one-party rule has pushed overburdensome regulations, unfriendly tax policies, and prioritized doling out welfare to a few at the expense of many. It is evident we need to reform our state and the way we do business if we want to have an economy that prospers now and for future generations. My plan provides that vision.

A Promise To Working Families

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to capitalize on state surplus monies and federal ARPA funds. This money must be spent wisely. We cannot afford to squander it with poorly thought through plans or by making decisions based on what lobbyists and insiders want. I am running for governor because I am a problem solver and have a passion for public policy. The problems that exist within Rhode Island are fixable — it just takes bold leadership, political will, and a new era of good government to create a state where our children and grandchildren can afford to stay here and start their own families. But also a place where our parents can afford to retire with dignity and spend their golden years with their families at their side. I fundamentally believe in providing relief to Rhode Islanders who have been crushed by this economy.

Families should be able to use their earnings to pay for the skyrocketing costs of necessities. Whether it is food, gas, energy, housing, child care, or education — people are being crushed, and we must take immediate and decisive action to provide relief. My income tax reduction plan will have a significant impact on working families throughout Rhode Island. Under my plan, the average couple, a teacher and a police officer, for example, would save an average of about $3,400 a year. To put that into perspective, that is nearly the entire cost a family spent on gas last year.¹

Diving into the numbers, the median household income in Rhode Island is $70,305² — while the largest share of taxpayers in the state make $50,000³ or less. This plan will call for a structured tax reduction plan.

The largest reduction will be for the state’s lowest earners — slashing the personal income tax for residents earning $50,000 or less from 3.75% to 0%.

For filers making less than $100,000, their tax bill will be cut to 2%. The reality is people are suffering and the cost of living in Rhode Island is making it impossible for people to find financial freedom. We have the means to be one of the most affordable states to live, work, and raise a family — but it takes leadership and vision to get us there.

Rhode Island doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. Rhode Island is currently the 9th most expensive state to live. We continue to prioritize shortsighted corporate welfare over enduring prosperity. Rhode Islanders from every corner of the state will benefit from this proposal — and ultimately, we can help families provide a better life for their children.

To account for the lost revenue, we will take measures to protect the budget while also growing our economy to ensure fiscal stability. It will take a multipronged approach to achieve this goal. I will make state government more efficient and less corrupt; appoint an inspector general to identify waste, fraud, and abuse; revitalize our contracting practices prioritizing cost and merit; regionalize services where it makes sense; improve our economic environment to attract new businesses; increase the housing stock to grow our tax base; and use the existing funds at our disposal, including the ARPA money and budget surplus, to invest in projects for the public good that make Rhode Island a more attractive state.

I look forward to partnering with the leaders of the General Assembly — both the majority and minority — to implement a budget with these priorities. The General Assembly has already proven its willingness to help taxpayers — under Speaker Mattiello, the legislature ended the car tax. Now it is time to reform the tax code and continue giving more money back to the people.

Supporting Small Businesses and Increasing Competitiveness

Small businesses are the backbone of the Rhode Island economy — constituting over 98% (106,412) of all businesses in Rhode Island in 2021, and employing over 52% (230,742) of the state’s workforce.⁵ Supporting small businesses ensures the economy will thrive while creating opportunity for all Rhode Islanders.

Improving our tax competitiveness: In order to continue to attract new business, Rhode Island needs tax policies that are competitive with our neighboring states:

• Currently, we have a lower corporate tax rate (7.00%) than Massachusetts (8.00%) and Connecticut (7.50%). As Governor I will fight any attempt to raise this rate, and work to find ways we can lower it to further increase our competitiveness.
• Lower sales tax to 6.25% from 7% to bring in line with MA (CT’s rate is 6.35%) as well.
• Implement sales tax holidays: Massachusetts has multiple sales tax holidays throughout the year, designed to spur commerce and shopping. Rhode Island does not have such a program, which leads many to cross the border into Massachusetts during these times to shop. Here in Rhode Island we could implement programs like a Back-To-School Tax Holiday, Baby and Toddler Tax Holiday, and when sworn in in January, a Household Items Tax Holiday.
• Rhode Island should expand the Rebuild RI tax credit program. The Rebuild Program should be modified to be easier to use, and be partially targeted to retrofit smaller industrial and commercial properties. The fact is that no commercial or industrial project in Rhode Island “pencils out”, especially in this period of rapidly escalating construction costs. The availability of non-conventional, patient capital is critical to promoting the repositioning and addition of commercial and industrial buildings.

Governor’s Small Business Committee: This would be augmented from the current RI Small Business Advisory Council to be directly within the executive office. Similarly, this would be composed of key government officials, RI Commerce leadership, Chamber of Commerce leaders, mayors and town administrators, and business owners to provide regular updates on the state of small businesses in the state. I would work to expand participation in our business community, and identify areas for regulatory reform, and identify the needs of small business owners quickly as they arise.

Streamlining business applications: Depending on what business you are starting, different fees and application processes apply. Instead of having a mosaic of small business incorporation processes, I would work to create one standardized application process that all prospective owners can use to streamline the process and root out confusion.

Small Business Mentorship: Create a mentoring program directly within RI Commerce to connect entrepreneurs and small businesses with current and retired business leaders in their field to provide guidance on best practices and navigate the opening and operation of a business. The program would serve business owners throughout the entirety of their business lifecycle from conception to maturity.

• This program would work in conjunction with the Small Business Development Center currently operating at the University of Rhode Island to fully connect higher education, small business, and government toward one goal.

Commerce ROI Audit: Rhode Island has continually placed emphasis on corporate welfare for major corporations instead of focusing on bolstering small businesses. Though we cannot rescind past investments, I would order a comprehensive return-on investment economic performance audit to evaluate which economic development tax incentives and credits are contributing to tax base expansion, job creation, and development, and which ones are not.

Cut Regulations: In 2019, Rhode Island had over 92,000 restrictions on the books in its regulatory code. One report found, “it would take an individual 316 hours—or almost 8 weeks—to read the entire RICR. That’s assuming the reader spends 40 hours per week reading and reads at a rate of 300 words per minute.” While Rhode Island has⁶ undertaken some regulatory reform in the past— it is clear more needs to be done to unleash our economy and allow small businesses and entrepreneurs to prosper in our state — in years past, businesses that rank highest for small business or economic activity were ones that pursued aggressive reforms to remove burdensome regulations and simplify their regulatory codes.

• The first step to achieving this is increasing cooperation between the government and our small business community. RICR has now been placed online, but I would create a portal for business owners to directly provide feedback on burdensome regulations and ideas for reform.
• Both Arizona and Virginia went under serious regulatory reform aimed at simplifying their codes and dramatically reducing the amount of unnecessary or overburdensome regulations on the books. Following these models, I would set a goal of reducing the number of “restrictive words” on our books by 10% in the first two years of review.
  • This initial review would include a full ecosystem approach — engaging chambers of commerce, business leaders, and the URI small business development center.
• Following this initial reduction, I would seek to create a program which requires the full regulatory code to be reviewed every five years with the goal of continuously removing regulations that are holding our state economy back.

Small Business Succession: Rhode Island has an aging workforce and business owner community. Without a succession plan in place, many businesses can close for good, despite being pillars of their communities or offering essential services. To address this, I would have a two-fold approach:

• Within the mentorship program I would create a system to train business owners on creating a succession plan if they need assistance;
• I would also work to connect young entrepreneurs with aging owners to train them in the business and prepare to take it over when needed.

Improving Broadband Internet: Rhode Island regularly ranks high in internet access, but we still have work to do to connect the “last mile”, improve affordability, improve transparency, and future proof our systems to ensure higherspeed internet is provided to all students, residents, and businesses. Additionally, this would allow Rhode Island to further capitalize on the remote economy that has emerged from the pandemic.

Creating more commercial “move-in” ready space: Quonset Business Park has created a highly successful model that allows businesses to sign leases and be in a new space in a relatively short amount of time. This primarily is due to the built-in infrastructure that makes construction and connection streamlined. Work has begun to invest in our future by creating spaces around our state using this model. I would work to build a new state-of-the-art, site-ready business/corporate park in Rhode Island, specifically focusing efforts to create an additional industrial space in the northern half of our state. This area is closest to Boston and their bustling life-sciences corridor.

Improving Infrastructure: According to Reason, Rhode Island currently ranks 49th⁷ in the nation for cost-effectiveness and overall roadway condition. This must change. We need to spend our dollars effectively while making needed investments in roads, bridges, and railways to consistently improve infrastructure and transportation around our state. This also includes additional investments, such as mitigating lead pipelines still being used throughout the state.

Innovating, Creating Jobs, and Investing in our Human Capital

Building a successful economy in Rhode Island requires us to innovate within emerging industries, while leveraging existing programs and education institutions to create a well-trained workforce. This can drive entrepreneurship as well as provide a major incentive to companies looking to relocate to Rhode Island. We will build this by workforce by:

Connecting Business and Classrooms: As “previously discussed in my education plan, we need a more robust pathway for students and adult learners, to learn in-demand skills/trades in school and have a good-paying job available to them upon graduation/completion. To accomplish this, I would:

• Expand cooperation between RI Commerce and Prepare RI to connect students with skills, resources, and businesses in need (both large and small).
• Have RI Commerce conduct an extensive audit of business needs in various industries (certifications, aging workforces, technical skills needed, business trends, etc.) and provide a direct report on the skills needed in today’s economy and the future one.
• Expand Career/Technical Education for students and adult learners so students of any age can learn in-demand skills.

Increasing and Encouraging Technology Education: Expand P-Tech and other technology and career educational opportunities to build a workforce that is highly trained in advanced manufacturing, STEM, data analysis, IT, cyber-security, etc. With the world growing increasingly online and emerging tech companies and established defense contractors in our vicinity, these are the jobs of the future and building a well-trained workforce in these areas will increase Rhode Island’s competitiveness and attractiveness.

Higher Education Involvement: Expand partnerships between Rhode Island higher education institutions and corporations to drive innovation, research, and job training. This includes working to expand Rhode Island Innovation Voucher and Innovation Campus programs.

Expanding Affordable Housing: In order for Rhode Island to prosper economically and have a robust workforce, we need a larger supply of affordable housing for families and employees throughout our state. Increasing this supply will be a priority of my administration.

Harnessing Rhode Island’s Blue Economy: One of our greatest assets here in Rhode Island is our incredible access to the ocean. With this incredible resource, our world-class educational facilities, and targeted investments, we are poised to become the national Blue Economy leader. To do this we need to:

• Part of my Small Business Committee will be dedicated to leading experts, innovators and entrepreneurs working in our Blue Economy. This will allow them to directly discuss the needs of the industry with my administration and expand partnerships across our business community.
• To successfully build our Blue Economy, we need increased investments for start ups and innovation. Additionally, as stated above, a goal of my administration will be to create a business climate that is attractive to venture capitalists — especially those seeking to be a part of our growing Blue Economy. To do this, I would create a new program directly targeted to Blue Economy start-up investment:
  • To be eligible, companies must be under two years old, operating within the Blue Economy, headquartered in Rhode Island, and have 25 employees or less.
  • Modeled after the successful SEIS programming used in the UK, this program would offer numerous benefits to investors in the Rhode Island Blue Economy, including:
    • Income tax credit on qualifying investments into Blue Economy Companies;
    • Waiving of capital gains tax on an investment if funds are reinvested into another qualifying Blue Economy company;
    • Due to the fact that this is an emerging industry and the risky nature of these investments, a loss protection would be built in for investors in qualifying companies.
  • Finally, I plan to be a strong partner with URI and our higher education institutions who are on the leading edge of this industry. I support URI’s Bay Campus and Narragansett Bay Initiative continued expansion and will work to supply state funds as needed and work with my federal partners to bring in additional dollars as well.
    • I support the $100 MM bond currently on the ballot this November to provide additional investment into URI’s bay campus. Moving forward I will seek to provide additional bonds to support our Blue Economy as needs are identified.

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