Providence students plan walk out to protest layoffs, cutting sports

PROVIDENCE, R.I. ( WPRI ) — Providence Public School students plan to walk out of class Tuesday afternoon as the district and the city continue to clash over funding.

The battle has been ongoing for months, with the threat of extreme cuts that could lead to layoffs, hiring freezes, and the elimination of sports.

A letter sent from the students said in part, “The Providence Public School District is a pressure cooker of decades-long mismanagement that has finally imploded, and not a single group of people will bear the brunt of this harder than us students will.”

Now students are expected to march down to city hall around 1:30 p.m.

This comes as a Rhode Island Superior Court Judge issued a decision Friday in a long-running dispute over a state law saying the city has to increase funding to the district each year of the state takeover.

Judge Jeffrey Lanphear said, “The Crowley Act is concise, clear, and speaks for itself.”

MORE: Amid school funding fight, judge rules in favor of state withholding aid from Providence

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