On Sept. 9, State Rep. David Morales MPA’19 won the Democratic nomination for mayor of Providence, opening the door to a possible shift in Providence education policy.
Morales, who was endorsed by the Providence Teachers Union, centered his educational commitments around several key priorities including family engagement, increased mental health resources and staffing reforms.
In an interview with The Herald before his primary win, Morales shared his plans to meet the growing demand for mental health services in schools by working with nonprofits such as Tides Family Services, Family Services of Rhode Island and The Providence Center. These partnerships could allow the district to deploy more social workers and school psychologists to “provide our students with the services that they deserve,” he said.
Morales’s platform also calls for hiring “family engagement coordinators” in the Providence Public School District’s Office of Family and Community Engagement to help bridge the gap between parents and schools. These family engagement coordinators would be designated to provide services and guidance to multilingual households or students seeking individualized education programs, known as IEPs.
Morales’s education reforms also focus on improving staffing conditions in the PPSD. “We have a staffing crisis right now within Providence Public Schools, where we don't have enough counselors, we don’t have enough social workers that are accounting for the needs of our students who are struggling,” Morales told The Herald.
A recent report from WJAR showed 30 teaching vacancies in Providence entering the 2026 school year, falling in line with a wider trend of staffing shortages in the district following the pandemic.
Morales’s campaign website outlines proposals to train additional staff and to restart a teacher mentorship program that pairs first- and second-year teachers with more experienced staff.
Morales also seeks to reform the current statute on non-renewals for new teachers. Currently in Rhode Island, probationary teachers, or those who are newly hired, can be dismissed via a letter of non-renewal in their first three years of employment.
The new system proposed by Morales would emphasize transparency and require documented rationale for dismissals.
To fund these new programs at Providence public schools, Morales is looking towards building an agreement to draw more financial support from the private universities in the area, including Brown, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College and Johnson and Wales University.
“Right now, we have an underwhelming (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement between the four private colleges and universities,” Morales said. “They’re only paying about 8% of what they would otherwise owe in property taxes, which is quite low in comparison to other cities and towns that have private colleges and universities.”
Following seven years of a state takeover and a recent return to local control over the PPSD, Morales could become mayor during a new era where the Office of the Mayor will be more influential in matters of city education.
In a statement to the press, PTU President Lindsay Paiva cited Morales’s “deep respect for organized labor, commitment to staffing that prioritizes student and educator well-being and interest in amplifying teacher voices” as a reason for their support, adding that he would be “a promising partner in this next chapter for PTU and for our district.”
Paiva said the PTU worked with the Morales team in drafting the education platform, with input on education policies coming from consultations with teachers.
The PTU has also historically opposed charter school expansion — which has been a hot-button issue in previous local elections. As a legislator, Morales also opposed charter growth. But in his mayoral campaign, Morales did express his intent to support existing charter schools. He also received an endorsement from former mayor Jorge Elorza, an avid supporter of increasing the number of high-performing charters.
Janie Segui Rodriguez, CEO and founder of pro-charter school advocacy organization Stop The Wait R.I., wrote in a statement to The Herald that the group remains “deeply invested in the ongoing work to strengthen K-12 public education opportunities in Providence and across Rhode Island.”
Segui Rodriguez added that she “looks forward to working with the new mayor to support all of the city’s public education students.”
