FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin
July 23, 2002
In this issue:
FOCUS Efforts to Raise Facilities Allowance, Credit Enhancement Fund Pass First Hurdle
FOCUS Launches Comprehensive D.C. Public Charter School Web Site
Deputy Mayor Recommends Surplus Buildings for DCPS; Councilman Graham Schedules Hearing
DCPCSB Hears From ’03 Applicants, Takes Action Against Seven Charter Schools
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FOCUS Efforts to Raise Facilities Allowance, Credit Enhancement Fund Pass First Hurdle
FOCUS received word from the Hill this morning that the Senate D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee markup of the FY 2003 District budget includes $20,000,000 in federal funds for D.C.'s Charter Schools. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the D.C. budget later today.
Of the $20 million, $4 million would go toward raising the '03 facilities allowance to approximately $1500 per student. Another $5 million would go to the Credit Enhancement Fund and $10 million would be for a charter school loan program. Finally, $1 million would be used to set up a District office of charter school finance. We will provide details on the loan program and finance office as we get them.
The Subcommittee markup comes after a series of meetings over the last two months between FOCUS and subcommittee chair Mary Landrieu and her staff. FOCUS also conferred with key House members and staff, Mayor Williams's education staff, and Council Member Kevin Chavous. Senator Landrieu is a strong supporter of charter schools and an advocate for better education in the District, where she is building a house. The meetings began after testimony on the facilities
issues by FOCUS at a hearing held by Senator Landrieu in the spring.
Although we are optimistic about these amounts appearing in the final D.C. budget, many hurdles remain. In addition to today's full Committee markup, the above program must survive a vote by the full Senate and similar proceedings in the House. We'll keep you posted.
FOCUS Launches Comprehensive D.C. Public Charter School Web Site
As part of our Web Site Project, which provides free web sites to D.C.’s charter schools, FOCUS has completed a top-to-bottom reworking of our own site, >www.focus-dccharter.org. New sections provide essential guidance for people
and organizations thinking about starting charter schools, for parents trying to choose a school for their children, and for school leaders and trustees. A “Hot Issues” section provides information on current issues facing the charter schools and what you can do to help make sure they are favorably resolved. As before, the FOCUS site contains the complete text of the School Reform Act and funding formula, and a comprehensive historical record of D.C.’s charter
school movement.
Deputy Mayor Recommends Surplus Buildings for DCPS; Councilman Graham Schedules Hearing
Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham has scheduled a hearing for September 23 to review the recommendation of Deputy Mayor for Operations Herb Tillery that the Bruce and Addison surplus school buildings, now vacant, be returned to DCPS instead of made available to the public charter schools. Citing the “considerable interest” in these schools, Graham has
asked that no disposition be made until after the hearing.
FOCUS has been pushing hard for the charter schools to have the first crack at Bruce, Addison, and Keene. Tillery did recommend that Keene be made available to charter schools, but only after the current user is evicted by the courts.
Tillery, who started his job just a month ago and reports to City Administrator John Koskinen, made his recommendations without consulting FOCUS or any other charter school voices. FOCUS met with Tillery Monday afternoon to convey our objections to the recommendations and to ask that a high-level task force be appointed to deal with future school dispositions. The meeting was cordial and Tillery expressed a willingness to pull together a task force,
which would include charter school representatives. FOCUS also is sending a letter to Mayor Williams asking that Tillery’s recommendations not be accepted.
DCPCSB Hears From ’03 Applicants, Takes Action Against Seven Charter Schools
The D.C. Public Charter School Board heard from its five 2003 applicants at a hearing held at Maya Angelou PCS on Monday July 15. The Life Skills Center of the District of Columbia (high school), Eagle Academy (pre-school--K), Coalition of Citizens for Educational Change (K-12th), D.C. Preparatory Academy (4th-8th), and Auto Arts Academy (9th-12th) each had five minutes to present highlights followed by 25 minutes of questioning by the Board. Only one of these schools received an enthusiastic reception from Board members.
After the hearing the Board held a meeting to vote on the issuance of “disciplinary” notices to seven charter schools. The Board voted unanimously to issue Notices of Concern to New School for Enterprise and Development, Maya Angelou, and SAIL. Three additional schools – WMST, SouthEast Academy, and Marriott Hospitality, will be issued Notices of Deficiency. A seventh school, ARE, will be put on probation. Among the reasons for the above actions are failure to
provide adequate special education services, absence of a written curriculum, and not fully implementing the curriculum as specified in the charter.
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