One of our most important duties as elected officials is to thoughtfully allocate state resources to move Rhode Island forward. This year the legislature heard hundreds of hours of public testimony on how to best use these resources to address the challenges of our times. We listened to Rhode Islanders – our neighbors and constituents – talk about their struggles but also their hopes for how we can work together to set our state on a better path.

The recently-passed state budget takes bold action to address many critical issues facing both Warwick and Rhode Island. It secures robust commitments to build more affordable housing, strengthen our public schools, help small businesses, bolster child care, and support frontline health care workers. Working together, with our colleagues in government, advocates and constituents, we crafted a strong budget positioning Rhode Island to thrive for years to come.

Housing Affordability

The cost of housing is among the most important issues we face. If we want everyone to be able to afford a roof over their heads, if we want our kids to be able to buy a house someday, we need to build more housing through smart growth for people of every income level. The budget includes an additional $39 million to support housing development and up to $30 million each year for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and $32.5 million to help individuals dealing with homelessness. That’s all on top of the $250 million in federal funds already allocated and a legislative package to improve housing affordability.

Public Schools

Students, teachers, parents and school districts across the state are struggling. We know money alone won’t solve this problem, but we also know schools need the resources to provide kids with the support and education they deserve. The budget increases direct state aid to schools by $85 million, including $14.4 million more for multi-language learners and $10.5 million more for high-cost special education. We also reformed the school funding formula to better account for poverty measures and help schools adjust to changing enrollments.

The budget contains $4 million in additional aid to Warwick schools, increasing the state’s investment from $41.8 million to $45.8 million. Additionally, the envisioned school construction project will receive a larger reimbursement with this new budget – likely about $750,000 a year, and the state’s rate of reimbursement would climb from 52.5 percent to 55 percent. The budget also provides the Warwick construction project critically needed additional time.

Relief for Small Businesses

The new budget provides significant relief for Warwick and Rhode Island’s small businesses from the municipal tangible tax. About 75 percent of the state’s businesses will no longer have to pay a tangible tax, with the state reimbursing all cities and towns for the lost revenue. This also relieves businesses from the burden of filling out time-consuming paperwork.

Early Learning

The budget allocates $7 million for early childhood learning, including $3 million to preserve Head Start seats and $4 million for a pilot program to expand eligibility for child care to child care workers. That’s in addition to over $100 million allocated last year to support child care and early learning so kids get the support they need, and parents can work.

Health Care

Our health care system continues to struggle in the aftermath of the pandemic. The budget provides a $14 million injection to our hospital system along with longer term changes to increase payments, $15.3 million to nursing homes with 80% of that allocated to wages, and $75 million in additional funding to ensure caregivers working with adults with developmental disabilities get the pay they deserve. This will help recruitment and retention to improve staffing and shore up our healthcare system.

While there is still much work ahead of us, I am proud to say that this budget continues our shared goal of building a foundation for Rhode Island’s future.

K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Democrat from District 23 in Warwick, is the Speaker of the House.