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Get ready for another charter school debate in Providence.
The Providence City Council Ordinance Committee is meeting at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the latest proposal to allow Excel Academy to take over part of the vacant Carl Lauro Elementary School on Kenyon Street in Providence.
Lauro was shuttered by the Providence school department after the 2023 school year, and charter schools quickly sought to fill the vacant space. Mayor Brett Smiley’s office negotiated a deal with Excel Academy last year, but the council voted it down.
The new agreement appears to be more favorable to the city – Excel is committing to make more than $14 million in capital improvements to the building – but it’s still not a guarantee that the council will support the proposal (there’s a strong contingent of councilors who oppose charter schools in general).
The bigger picture: Excel Academy started accepting fifth graders from Providence, North Providence, and Central Falls during the 2022-2023 school year, and it already has approval from the Rhode Island Department of Education to eventually grow into a K-12 school.
In other words, the council doesn’t have the ability to stop the school from growing; it can just disrupt the process by not allowing the school to lease city-owned property. (Excel has also been in talks with Rhode Island College about using the former Henry Barnard School.)
There are 8,206 students from Providence attending charter schools in the current school year, and that number is expected to grow to 9,311 by the 2026-2027 school year. The district lost 2,650 students between 2020 and 2024, although it has ticked up slightly in the current school year.
What’s next: Excel Academy needs space to continue its currently approved growth plan, but it also wants to get a deal done before the 2026 election season begins interfering with everything.
Charter school leaders across the state are also keeping an eye on the changes in the Rhode Island Senate, where newly elected President Val Lawson doubles as president of the National Education Association Rhode Island.
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The Globe in Rhode Island
⚓ President Trump's cuts to public health and scientific research in Rhode Island come at a pivotal time when state leaders are betting on the life sciences industry becoming a catalyst for Rhode Island’s economy. Read here.
⚓In an opinion piece, Doug Lane writes that preventable systemic failures led to the death of his wife and son in the Washington, D.C. plane crash in January. Read here.
⚓ Two witnesses directly contradicted the self-designed methods that former North Kingstown High basketball coach Aaron Thomas testified he’d used to analyze the body-fat composition and flexibility of teen male athletes, and to palpate for potential groin strains. Read more.
⚓ The Boston Globe Rhode Island team won 43 awards — including 18 first place finishes for Distinguished Journalist, News/Editorial Columnist, investigative reporting, spot news, community journalism, neighborhood coverage, government reporting, and in other categories — in the 2025 Rhode Island Press Association contest honoring work published in 2024. Read more.
⚓ This week's Ocean State Innovators Q&A is with Felicia Neuhof, founder of Shellf Life, a Providence startup that transforms discarded seafood shells into innovative building materials. Email us with suggestions for this weekly interview. Read more.
You can check out all of our coverage at Globe.com/RI
Also in the Globe
⚓ US and Chinese officials said Monday they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day truce in their trade war for more talks on resolving their trade disputes. Read more.
⚓ Whether it’s due process, economic populism, or foreign entanglements, President Trump’s return to power is defined less by disruption than by contradictions of his own making. Read more.
⚓ The good news for the Celtics is there’s plenty of room left for improvement in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks. Read more.
RHODE ISLAND REPORT PODCAST Ed Fitzpatrick talks to US RepresentativeSeth Magaziner about the congressman's concerns with President Trump's agenda. Listen to all of our podcasts here.
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