While Rhode Island has voted reliably blue in presidential elections for over thirty years, the state is typically seen as more moderate than its northeastern neighbors with voters caring more about commonsense issues that personally affect them.
This is why they may be shocked to learn just how entrenched their K-12 education system is with radical gender ideology while student achievement continues to decline.
The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) has statewide guidance established in 2016 that explicitly states the transgender identity of students should be hidden from their parents. The state then adds fuel to the fire by explaining children may use irreversible medical treatment such as puberty blockers and surgeries to transition to another gender.
The state’s guidance should certainly be alarming to any parent, but the situation is significantly worse than it even appears.
Parents Defending Education investigated the state and discovered that 32 school districts within Rhode Island have their own additional policies that mandate staff to not inform parents of their children’s transgender identity. These districts consist of 83% of K-12 students in the state. Many of these districts openly admit that their policies are based on the statewide guidance.
Despite President Donald Trump’s executive orders to eliminate gender ideology as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from public schools, Rhode Island officials have unfortunately doubled down.
RIDE issued an official statement in February claiming that the state’s school districts should not comply with the president’s executive orders. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha accused the Trump administration of prioritizing “chaos, confusion, and fear” – as if stripping parents of their right to access vital health records of their children does not sow confusion and fear.
The state’s education department is clear in this statement that school districts are mandated to adopt transgender policies and must continue to follow statewide rules and regulations. Neronha then signed onto a statement falsely claiming that “female genital mutilation” is not connected to so-called “gender-affirming care.” Meanwhile, detransitioners like Chloe Cole who received “gender-affirming care” as children can never get back what they lost.
Rather than support a sinister ideology founded on the ideas of stripping parents of their rights and potentially causing irreversible harm to children, maybe the state’s leaders should care more about their crumbling education system.
The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report revealed that the downward trajectory continued for the performance of Rhode Island students in 2024. The NAEP score for fourth-grade students has decreased by nine points in reading since 2015. Eighth-grade students saw a seven-point decrease in reading and an eleven-point decrease in mathematics in that same timeframe.
When taking a look at school districts at the local level, the situation is more dire.
The largest school district in the state by far is Providence Public Schools. The district’s transgender policy goes as far as to state that notifying parents of a student’s gender identity could be dangerous for the child. One glance at the district’s proficiency scores appears to show that the district’s priorities are misplaced.
There is no positive spin. Only 14% of elementary students and 7% of middle school students in the district are proficient in mathematics. The scores are just as awful in reading with 15% of elementary students and 12% of middle school students proficient.
Another school district with a similar policy in place is Warwick Public Schools. This district’s scores are only marginally better, with 27% of elementary students and 18% of middle school students proficient in mathematics. Reading scores are also abysmal with 34% proficiency for elementary students and 24% for middle school students.
This is the trend throughout the state.
With a deteriorating education infrastructure, Rhode Island’s elected leaders have more critical issues to worry about than promoting radical gender ideology to children or hiding health records from parents. Rather than wage war, they should work with the Trump administration to ensure students receive a proper education and are prepared for the real world.
While Rhode Island is reliably blue, the state’s voters support commonsense issues. If these voters truly knew how their state was spending their tax dollars, the politicians in power would likely be in jeopardy of losing their positions.
The future of Rhode Island’s children is at stake. Now is the time for parents to speak up and inform the public.
Casey Ryan is a writer and investigative reporter at Parents Defending Education.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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