Establishes a new program where the per pupil funding, calculated annually by RIDE, would be transferred into a newly created educational funding account run by the children's scholarship fund to pay for educational expenses.

Rhode Island Education Freedom Account Program

This bill would create a new "Education Freedom Account" program in Rhode Island that gives families more control over how their child's education funding is spent. Currently, when a child attends public school, state education funding goes directly to that school district. Under this proposal, a portion of that per-pupil funding — the amount Rhode Island calculates it costs to educate one student each year — would instead be placed into a personal account for that child's family to use on approved educational expenses.

These accounts would be managed by an organization called the Children's Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit that would oversee the program. Families could then use the money in these accounts to pay for a variety of educational costs, which might include private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum materials, or other qualifying educational services. The exact amount deposited would be determined each year by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), which already calculates per-pupil funding figures annually.

This bill would primarily affect K-12 students and their families across Rhode Island, particularly those who want educational options outside of their local public school. It could also impact public school districts, since funding that would have gone to a district would follow the child to their chosen educational path instead. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee, meaning it is in the early stages of the legislative process and has not yet become law.