This past June, local school districts in Rhode Island, were told they would receive $13.6 million in extra aid from revenue drawn from gambling at Twin River and Newport Grand during overnight and weekend gambling. The General Assembly pledged the above to the schools according to Elliot Krieger, the State Department of Education.

The schools of Coventry were most recently notified that they would receive $33,500 from the state from slot machine revenue. This amount is from overnight revenue from the casino slot machines. The school committee has a planned meeting to discuss how they will use the allotted amount of money.

Since May, over $1 million has been accrued from casino slot machines during extra business hours. Coventry School should receive 2.9% of that revenue which could be more than $390,000 for the school year. In addition to this amount, Coventry schools already received $20 million in regular aid from the state.

Superintendent Kenneth DiPietro Stated: “We want to be clear to the public that [the special allotment is] not an increase in state aid, it’s a monthly allocation. It could be good. It could be a novel idea. We are going to monitor it for three months … to see what the revenue projections are.” He also stated that the money could be used for repairs or extra personnel. It could also be used for additional fire code upgrades and to restore programs.

DiPietro stated that before any major decisions can be made, the money must be watched to be sure enough will be in place to restore the programs. The money allotted towards the schools from the casinos will be distributed on a monthly basis and is not guaranteed as the casinos do not have a definite figure they make each month.


- 2008-08-12