FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin

MARCH 21, 2003

Extra Charter School Facilities Funding in the Pipeline; To Be Added to 4/15 Payment

Each charter school will receive a "bonus" of $263 per student in additional facilities funding with its regular April 15 disbursement. The funds, amounting to several million dollars, were part of a $17,000,000 package of federal funds obtained
for the charter schools by FOCUS. The package was championed by Senator Mary Landrieu and supported by both the Senate and House D.C. Appropriations Subcommittees.

Mayor's Proposed '04 Budget Raises Foundation Level and Facilities Allowance; DCPS Given $35 Million in "Enhancements."

The proposed '04 education budget sent to the Council this week by the Williams administration features an increase in the foundation level of the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (the base amount every student receives) to $6,551 and a facilities allowance of $1,981. The total charter school budget is proposed at just over $137 million dollars, based on projected enrollment of 13,040.

The formula-based DCPS budget would be $544,172,480, based on a total enrollment of 66,692. Unfortunately, the mayor proposes
to give DCPS over 35 million dollars in "additional enhancements" outside the funding formula, most for teacher salaries -- an extra $500+ for every DCPS student. This is illegal under the funding formula law, which requires that all operating budget appropriations from the General Fund for D.C. public schools, traditional and charter, go through the formula. In addition to
being illegal, the proposed extra funding would put charter schools at a significant competitive disadvantage when trying to hire teachers.

FOCUS and the charter schools are mobilizing to urge the District Council to put these funds into the formula where they belong, thus ensuring that the funding for all students is truly uniform.

Chief Financial Officer Goes After Charter Schools Again

Last year at this time the Chief Financial Office of the District proposed legislation to require that the "accounts and operations" of all public charter schools be audited by an independent accounting firm selected by the CCFO. Under the legislation the CFO, currently Natwar Ghandi, also would dictate the "principles and procedures" under which the audits would take place. Quick action by FOCUS and some of the charter schools kept this completely unnecessary and clearly anti-charter legislation from becoming law.

Now the CFO is proposing that the District's 2004 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) cover the D.C. charter schools. In recent testimony before the Council Committee on Finance and Revenue, Ghandi admitted that under the School Reform Act the charter schools are not part of D.C. government, hence cannot be included in the CAFR. The CFO insists, however, that he "must
be able to account for the funds being expended and obligated by the Charter Schools and must be able to incorporate these findings in the CAFR" if he is to fulfill his mandate to ensure a balanced budget. Presumably, he intends to seek legislation at the Council or the Congress to make this possible.

FOCUS is looking into what the precise implications of including charter schools in the CAFR, including whether it would require the implementation of the accounting and audit entanglements proposed in last year's legislation

Friends of Choice in Urban Schools
1530 16th Street, NW #001
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 387-0405 phone
(202) 667-3798 fax
www.focus-dccharter.org