After 60 years, Providence will resume elections for school board members next week. Why did it even stop?

“It was the most turbulent year in the history of the Providence school department,” said Carol Young, then a 24-year-old Journal reporter covering the city’s schools. Young, now 81, told the Globe that the public was tired of the antics of the elected board of directors; the chairman was “no-show” for nearly a year during desegregation, and some politicians running for the board were more concerned with “getting Uncle Charlie into the school system as a principal” than with education issues. In the end, 56 percent of voters chose to switch to an appointed board.

School management partially returned to voters next week. On Election Day, with the names of presidential and congressional candidates on the ballot, Providence voters will be asked to choose a school board member to represent them for the first time in 58 years. A new hybrid school board model, which would include 5 elected members and 5 mayor-appointed members, was approved as a city charter change in 2022.

Although the race is historic, the race has gone under the radar this presidential election year, despite outside influence from special interest groups and the possibility that the winners of the election will take back control public school district during the first semester. Many of the 17 candidates nominated in 5 districts are focusing on local campaigning. efforts such as door knocking and social media, with several candidates raising $0.

“It’s a very unusual format,” said Jonathan Collins, a school management expert and professor at Teachers College at Columbia University. “People will need to see proof of concept before they invest heavily.”

Three candidates, including two sitting school board members, failed to even file campaign finance reports as required by law last month, resulting in fines from the Board of Elections. Campaign finance director Richard Thornton said he imposed $25 fines on Knight Jean Muhingabo, Michael Nina and Michael Jefferson for failing to file reports. (The Globe reached Muhingabo and Nina on Monday, who said they were filing their reports, but Jefferson could not be reached.)

As of Tuesday night’s reporting deadline, only five candidates — Corey Jones, Heidi Silverio, Andrew Grover, Coby Dennis and Ty’Rell Stevens — had raised more than $2,000 this year through donations. Stevens, the incumbent, raised the most of any candidate, more than $12,000. (His only opponent, DeNeil Jones, raised $660.)

More than half of the candidates spent less than $200. That’s a far cry from the tens of thousands of dollars that candidates often spend in competitive City Council elections. School board members will represent three times as many constituents as a board member.

“This may be a reflection of the fact that this is a new race,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a close election watcher. “It may also be a reflection of the fact that the school board is currently powerless. Money flows to power in politics, which is why (House Speaker) Joe Shekarchi has over $2 million.”

Currently, the board is essentially advisory because the school system is under state control and has no formal authority to hire staff, spend money or set policy. But absorption currently scheduled for completion in 2027during the new board’s first four-year term.

Most school committees across the country are elected, said Collins, formerly a professor at Brown University. When school governance changes, it often moves from elected to appointed, as happened in Providence in the 1960s, he said.

“The new format is expected to provide greater opportunity for superintendents and education leaders to implement reform efforts without the influence of electoral politics,” Collins said. “Once leaders feel less constrained that can come with an appointment system, we will rarely see those same systems revert to elective systems.”

Providence isn’t the only city returning to an elective format. Chicago voters will choose hybrid school board next week as a stepping stone to a fully elected board of directors in 2026. Boston also considered switching from an appointed to an elected council, but this measure was vetoed by Mayor Michelle Wu last year. The city of Johnston is located in Rhode Island. ask voters next week to switch to a hybrid system of governmentsimilar to Providence.

Providence’s new board is even more unusual because it will have 10 members, an even number.

“It’s unusual to not have a casting vote,” Collins said. “Essentially, they create the potential for gridlock.”

The race was influenced from outside. Both the Providence Teachers Union and Stop the Wait RI, a pro-charter school group, approved the list of candidates in Septemberwith the latter group sending out mailers in the four regions where they had chosen a candidate. Mayor Brett Smiley has not publicly endorsed anyone.

“When there is a lack of information about competitions, support can play a key role,” Marion said.

The total amount of money spent by outside groups has not been disclosed. The coalition of unions sent a mailing to union members only, exempting them from the requirement to publicly report expenses. Stop the Wait founder Janie Segui Rodriguez also said her group did not need to report its expenses because it was “general propaganda.” Both groups declined to tell the Globe how much they spent.

Teachers union leaders sharply criticized Stop the Wait for participating because the Providence school board does not oversee charter schools.

But Rodriguez noted that because of the long waiting list for charters, many parents in the group are still sending their children to public schools.

“The vast majority of the families we serve are not charter families,” Rodriguez said. “It seemed like the right decision to work on these races.”

One outside group, Collective Action for Education, has publicly announced that it is spending money on the race. The nonprofit, which supports both charter schools and innovation in traditional public schools, has raised $70,000 and has so far spent $25,000 on radio ads supporting candidate Jenny Mercado.

Losing candidates will get another chance to join the council if they apply for one of the mayor’s appointed seats; Smiley plans to begin accepting applications three days after the election.

Much has changed since the last time a school board was elected to unite black and white students in the 1960s. More than two-thirds of the city’s public schools. Latino students. In addition to low scores in reading and mathmajor issues facing the district include financial crisisan increase in the number of students with special needs and a growing number of English language learners.

“The argument for ending the government takeover is the fact that they haven’t seen meaningful progress,” Collins said. “It’s a real experiment.”

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Steph Machado can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @StephMachado.