The charter school movement has mostly flown under the radar in Rhode Island politics in recent years, and that’s just how they like it. But 2025 could be an interesting year as one mayoral academy seeks to make a big change, other schools consider unionizing, and a potential new school goes back to the drawing board.

Here’s a look at the lay of the land.

There are two kinds of charter schools in Rhode Island: Most are considered independents, but some are mayoral academies, which require a municipal chief executive to serve as chair of the board. Mayoral academies were spearheaded by Governor Dan McKee when he was mayor of Cumberland, and they have historically faced stronger push back from teachers’ unions because some of them are part of larger national or regional networks of charter schools (like Achievement First).

RISE Prep, a 3-star mayoral academy that admits students from Woonsocket, North Smithfield, and Burrillville, has been given the go-ahead to switch from a mayoral academy to an independent school. In its proposal, the school said the change “will mitigate instability and unpredictability,” both financially and politically. 

We know that teachers at Highlander Charter School and Paul Cuffee voted to unionize in 2024, and the state’s two teachers’ unions are engaged in conversations with other charter school teachers about joining, too. One big question is whether the incoming Trump administration will seek to roll back some of the rules set by President Joe Biden’s administration that made it easier to unionize. 

The other key question is what kind of contracts the teachers at Highlander and Cuffee will get during negotiations this year. Highlander joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2323, and Cuffee’s teachers are now members of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals. If the unions can win favorable terms for their new members, other charter schools could follow.

The New England Institute of Technology was hoping to open a high school focused on career and technical education in September, but it faced resistance from organized labor and decided to pump the brakes on the proposal. The idea still has support at both the university and from Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, but it could be difficult to open a new charter school that is opposed by labor in 2026 because it’s an election year.

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.

Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.

Southern New England are expecting to see wind chills in the minus in some areas with a possible snowstorm on the horizon.

According to the National Weather Service, wind chills from 8 below to 8 above will be felt across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut overnight into Wednesday morning.

Dry, windy & very cold conditions tonight with low temps dropping into the teens to near 20.

Dress in layers if headed out early Wednesday morning.

There is also lots of talk about a possible winter storm this weekend.

NWS states that right now we are favoring a more offshore track, but we can’t completely rule out a closer pass with more of an impact in southern New England.

The forecast:

Tonight

Clear, with a low around 17. West wind around 15 mph.

Wednesday

Sunny, with a high near 25. Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.

Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 15. West wind 14 to 18 mph.

Thursday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 31. Northwest wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Thursday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 22. Northwest wind 14 to 18 mph.

Friday

Sunny, with a high near 38. Northwest wind 7 to 13 mph.

Friday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Saturday

Snow likely, mainly between noon and 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Saturday Night

A chance of snow before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 22. Northwest wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

The doctors voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, the largest such union in the U.S., with more than 34,000 members

PROVIDENCE – In an effort to increase their pay, improve working conditions and patient care, resident physicians and fellows at Rhode Island Hospital have voted to join a union, making them the first doctors in Rhode Island to unionize.

The vote by secret mail ballot passed, 464-27, doctors who’ve led the effort announced Tuesday night.

The doctors voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents for the purpose of collective bargaining with their employer, Brown University Health, formerly Lifespan. The Committee of Interns and Residents is the largest such union in the country, with more than 34,000 members.

A second group of physicians working mostly in Brown-affiliated programs at Care New England hospitals is also voting on whether to join the union, but those ballots aren’t due until January 14 and won’t be counted until January 15, according to the Committee of Interns and Residents.

Care New England’s Hospital’s include Butler Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, and Kent Hospital.

More: Concerned over pay, burnout, 950 Rhode Island resident doctors bid to join union

Doctors in residencies say they regularly work 80 hours a week for first-year pay that can amount to as little as $15 per hour. The combination of demanding schedules and inadequate pay has a ripple effect that challenges their ability to treat patients and weakens the overall health care system, doctors say.

“We’re very proud of the work we do but we’re very much stretched to the breaking point in order to deliver this high-quality care,” said Dr. Felicia Sun, a neurosurgery resident at Rhode Island Hospital. “We’ve known for a long time that unionization is the first step to making our working conditions more humane, so we can continue to give the kind of care we want for the rest of our careers, and I’m so excited for what I expect to be a very positive result.” 

The Committee of Interns and Residents has doubled in size since the onset of the pandemic.