North Smithfield vs RSU 05
RI · 1,637 students • ME · 2,001 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- North Smithfield and RSU 05 spend within 2% of each other per student once local price levels are accounted for.
- North Smithfield directs 2 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than RSU 05.
- RSU 05 reports fewer students per teacher (10.7 vs 13.0). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 1,637 | 2,001 |
| Schools | 3 | 6 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Suburb | Rural |
| County | Providence County | Cumberland County |
| State | RI | ME |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 101.8 | 101.9 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $19,186 | $18,912 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $18,852 | $18,567 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $17,966 | $17,843 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
North Smithfield
RSU 05
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
North Smithfield
- Local 64.6% Locked
- State 30.0% Locked
- Federal 5.4% Locked
RSU 05
- Local 72.6% Locked
- State 24.0% Locked
- Federal 3.4% Locked
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 64.6% | 72.6% |
| State share of revenue | 30.0% | 24.0% |
| Federal share of revenue | 5.4% | 3.4% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How RI funds its districts
We have not yet written up RI's funding formula, so nothing is claimed here.
How ME funds its districts
We have not yet written up ME's funding formula, so nothing is claimed here.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
North Smithfield
- Instruction 62.0% Locked
- Instructional staff support 3.2% Locked
- Student support 9.1% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 7.7% Locked
- Transportation 4.7% Locked
- Food service 2.1% Locked
- School administration 5.2% Locked
- District administration 1.2% Locked
- Other support 3.0% Locked
- Other current 2.1% Locked
RSU 05
- Instruction 58.8% Locked
- Instructional staff support 4.8% Locked
- Student support 8.4% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 8.9% Locked
- Transportation 3.9% Locked
- Food service 3.5% Locked
- School administration 5.2% Locked
- District administration 3.6% Locked
- Other support 1.0% Locked
- Other current 3.5% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, North Smithfield minus RSU 05. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 65.2% | 63.5% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 6.4% | 8.8% |
| Transportation share | 4.7% | 3.9% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 13.0 | 10.7 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 6.0% | 5.5% |
| English learners | — | — |
| Students with disabilities | — | — |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -1.7% | -0.6% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
North Smithfield
No stability flags raised.
RSU 05
No stability flags raised.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -1.7% | -0.6% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
North Smithfield
Registration - North Smithfield Public Schools
Registration runs through Infinite Campus. Read September 1, 2026.
RSU 05
We have not been able to find an enrollment page for this district, so every row in its column below says so rather than guessing at it. Ask the district's registration office directly.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
North Smithfield
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
RSU 05
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrollment page for this district.
Documents to bring
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the district’s page. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrollment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrollment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in RI and ME.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
North Smithfield
The county or town levies it, not the district
This school system reports no property tax of its own. It is a dependent system: the county or city levies the tax and appropriates money to the schools. You still pay school property tax — the school board simply is not the body that sets it, and the appropriation is argued out at the county or city council.
RSU 05
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| North Smithfield | RSU 05 | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | — | $14,594 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | $13,012 | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | — | 70.8% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- North Smithfield: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- RSU 05: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Funding measures on the ballot
North Smithfield
We hold every school funding measure the state of RI published for 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024, and this district appears in none of them.
What this state publishes: Rhode Island publishes precinct counts and never a declared outcome, so no row here says whether a measure passed — the numbers are the state's, the arithmetic is yours. Only the November generals are read, because the state's primaries carry school committee candidate races and no questions; a question put to a town at a special election or a financial town meeting is not in this source at all. The 2010, 2012 and 2014 files record every local question as a number and a town — 'QUESTION 10 - TOWN OF BRISTOL' — with no subject, so those three years are blank here whatever the towns actually voted on. And a question is published only where its title names a dollar figure or a borrowing, which leaves out several capital questions whose titles say only what would be built.
RSU 05
We have not read ME’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of RSU 05. Whether it has asked its voters for money is a question its county election office can answer and we cannot, yet.
Nobody has read ME’s school election results yet — that is a gap on our side, not a fact about this district. Its county elections office holds what it asked its voters for and what they answered, and that is a public record you can request. What it says is worth asking about at a board meeting.
What this band does not answer yet
The detailed figures for North Smithfield and RSU 05
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
$1.79 for both, for three months, 21 cents less than buying them one at a time.
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