FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin

January 28, 2003

Twenty Million For D.C.¹s Charter Schools Escapes Budget Ax, Passes Senate The $20,000,000 package for D.C. charter school facilities put into the ¹03 appropriations bill by Senator Mary Landrieu at the urging of FOCUS passed the Senate last Thursday. The Senate bill now moves to the House-Senate conference committee. FOCUS is working to build support for the Senate provisions in the House, which earlier passed a $16,000,000 version of the facilities package.

Of the $20,000,000, $4 million would be used to increase the FY 2003 facilities allowance to at least $1,500 per student, $5 million would be added to the existing Credit Enhancement Fund, and $10 million would be used to establish a Direct Loan Program to help charter schools acquire facilities. Finally, $1 million is for the establishment and operation of an Office of Charter School Financing and Support to administer the Credit Enhancement Fund and the Direct Loan Program.

Coalition Finally Gains Access to the No Child Left Behind Process

After months of effort by FOCUS and various charter school leaders, the charter schools are finally being permitted by the DCPS State Education Agency to get involved in some of the deliberations about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This represents a critical victory for the charter schools, which will be bound by the rules and standards developed through these discussions. At the moment the three principal activities are development of the definition of "Adequate Yearly Progress," establishment of guidelines for the "Reading First" program, and development of criteria for "Persistently Dangerous Schools."

Along with FOCUS, several charter schools are involved in these deliberations (among them Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom, Capital City, Friendship-Edison, Roots, Paul, SAIL, Children's Studio, Tree of Life, IDEA, and Hyde). Representatives of some of these schools have agreed to keep all the charter school leaders informed about these critical deliberations by means of the FOCUS charter leaders list serve.

This past week FOCUS Executive Director Robert Cane met with Dawn Richardson, new Executive Director of the DCPS Office of Federal Grant Programs, which oversees the NCLB work, and with Connie Spinner, Director of the State Education Office, to work out procedures for making sure that charter schools are represented on all committees, task forces, and work groups dealing with NCLB. Both promised increased cooperation in breaking down barriers to charter school involvement.

FOCUS Real Estate Consultant Works with Several D.C. Charter Schools on Building Acquisition
FOCUS¹s real estate consultant, Gil Blankespoor, continues to unearth commercial buildings of potential interest to charter schools seeking space for the 2003-2004 school year. Gil¹s efforts have been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal facilities landscape, with the Williams Administration and the school system continuing to turn a deaf ear to charter school pleas that they make available surplus schools and excess space in operating DCPS schools.

At the moment, Gil is working with four of the five schools that are scheduled to open next fall and with six existing schools. In addition to finding suitable space for these schools, Gil helps them negotiate letters of intent, leases, and subleases, and otherwise seeks to ensure that they will be able to welcome their students into new and better space next fall.

Friends of Choice in Urban Schools
1530 16th Street, NW #001
Washington, DC 20036
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(202) 667-3798 fax