[4] This collective bargaining experience helped pave the way for the legalization of teacher unionism in Rhode Island two years later.

[4][5] Public school teachers in Rhode Island were given the legal right to bargain collectively "...hours, salary, working conditions, and other terms of professional employment" in May 1966 (P.L.

[17] It sued to oppose the shut-down of the Rhode Island state government during a budget crisis in 1991,[18] fought to keep full-time union leaders (who were former public employees) in the state pension system,[19][20] worked to enact strong constraints on charter schools in the state's charter school law (the resulting law is one of the most restrictive in the nation as of 2004),[21][22][23][24] supported stronger and clearer curriculum standards,[25] sued to stop the state from penalizing retired public employees who were enrolled in more expensive health care plans,[26][27] opposed binding arbitration for teacher union contracts,[28][29] opposed merit pay,[30] fought reductions in retiree pensions,[31][32][33] and sought to limit the role of school-wide committees in establishing teacher assignments, class sizes and layoff rules.

[35] There have been some media reports that this network has influenced RIFTHP and that the state federation is more willing to embrace some union and school reform efforts.

[24] In 2006, RIFTHP and the NEA affiliate in Rhode Island issued a joint report which focused on poverty and its many negative effects on children (such as malnutrition, unstable or violent home situations, lack of access to books and educational items like crayons or paper, and little access to high-quality early childhood programs) as key issues in the school reform effort.

[36] In 2009, the state federation began pushing local school boards to adopt much more rigorous teacher evaluation standards and a stronger mentoring program.

[37][38] The state of Rhode Island approved the plan for adoption by local school boards,[39] and RIFTHP won a $200,000 national competitive grant to help fund the first four programs (to be implemented in Central Falls, Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence, West Warwick, and Woonsocket).