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Although RIDE does not keep official data, a closer look at some nearby new high school facilities sheds some light on the potential. 

The new East Providence High School had an enrollment of 1659 students for the 2022-2023 school year. In 2020, before the new school was completed, East Providence High School had an enrollment of 1,526. This means that 133 more students attended the new school versus the old school.

The School Building Committee worked closely with a professional architectural team for over 2 years to evaluate various renovation and new build options.  Due to the expansive size, configuration, age of the existing buildings, and projected cost, the Rhode Island Department of Education fully supported the determination that it is more cost effective to build a new facility, and therefore would not support a full-scale renovation option. In addition, a new building will maximize the available reimbursement from the Rhode Island Department of Education. 

No. RIDE has indicated that it would not financially support a full-scale renovation of the existing high school due to the fact that the cost to renovate will likely meet or exceed the cost of a new build project. 

First, all students can remain in the existing school buildings throughout the duration of the construction period rather than being temporarily housed in other locations, at significant costs. Other advantages include: 

• A more efficient building footprint will result in less operating costs to heat, cool and maintain the facility in the long term. 

• A facility designed to meet 21st century learning standards versus trying to adapt old spaces into new configurations that may or may not be optimal. 

• Expanded ability to integrate green/sustainable building technologies to provide healthier learning environments for students 

• The ability to reconfigure the site to address current challenges related to parking, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, and entry configurations. 

• The ability to now have all sports and athletic fields on-site, rather than students having to leave schools to practice/compete. 

It will not be cheaper to push this work to a later date. Here are the two main reasons why. 

Incentives being offered by the Rhode Island Department of Education are already closed. These incentives increased the City’s reimbursement rate from 35% to over 50%. If we choose to delay this project, Warwick’s reimbursement rate will revert back to 35%, and the Project would lose millions of dollars of State funding. 

Industry experts agree that construction costs will never revert to their pre-pandemic levels. Although there is evidence of the construction market stabilizing, the consensus is that the current pricing we are seeing is here to stay and will in fact continue to increase in the years to come. 

State law now allows Warwick students to attend out-of-district public schools at the cost of Warwick’s taxpayers.  

Warwick currently spends millions of dollars on tuition for its students to attend other public schools or charter schools in the state. This is Warwick taxpayer money that is going to other districts to educate our students. It is our hope and belief that new high schools and athletic facilities will help retain our students from attending out-of-district schools with new buildings and better sports facilities. 

We need to do something to provide an improved learning environment for our high school students.  The current buildings are approaching 70 years old, in disrepair, inefficient, and inadequate to meet the educational needs of students.  

The School Building Committee evaluated multiple options for the limited repair and renovation of the existing high school facilities as well as multiple new build options, including a larger single school.  

Both schools will be demolished once the new buildings are complete, and the vacated space will be used to construct new fields. 

Warwick is executing the performance of this work in partnership with RIDE-SBA.  RIDE-SBA is a quasi-independent government agency that funds capital improvement projects in the State of Rhode Island’s public schools. RIDE-SBA’s mission is to “ensure that all approved projects provide high quality learning environments, conserve natural resources, consume less energy, are easier to maintain, and provide educationally appropriate school facilities.” In order for any project to receive aid (reimbursement) from the State, RIDE-SBA must be included in all phases of the work, from design to close-out. 

Operational costs for the new schools are expected to be substantially less compared to the current high schools, due to the efficiency of the new buildings configuration and reduction in footprint, long-term warranties on new building construction, reduced energy costs from energy efficient building systems, and an overall reduction in general cost to maintain a new facility versus the current facility that is 70 years old.