In an era when federal and state education mandates have gone up while federal and state funding has gone down, David Cicilline has worked tirelessly to strike the balance between the demands of over-burdened property tax payers and the critical economic and moral need to invest in children.

The result has been a steady increase in academic performance in every subject at every level, as well as in economic efficiency. Now with strong momentum, there is a comprehensive plan in place to speed-up the process of school improvement.

• Mayor Cicilline recruited a nationally-respected school administrator, former COO of the Washington DC and Philadelphia Public Schools, and former Commanding Officer at Fort Belvoir Thomas Brady as the new Superintendent of Providence Schools.
• Mayor Cicilline launched the Providence After-School Alliance (PASA), which has already become a national model, replicated in more than 17 cities, for how to support the healthy development and safety of children in middle school and high school beyond the school day.  
• Mayor Cicilline took on the long-neglected issue of decaying school buildings long before it became a national focus. He created a district-wide master plan to transform school facilities into 21st-Century learning environments. Central High School is complete and the state's best Career and Technical Academy and a new Nathan Bishop Middle School are on their way.  
• Mayor Cicilline has led the ongoing statewide fight for property tax relief in the form of a fair, adequate, and predictable school funding formula, sponsoring legislation to adopt a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee it.