FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin

October 31, 2003 [Scary Halloween
Edition]


--Bill Would Create Semi-Autonomous Schools WithinDCPS
--Mayor's Drive to Control Schools May Undermine Charter Autonomy
--Local Experts to Train Charter School Hopefuls on November 15, 22

Chavous Introduces Plan for "Partially Autonomous" DCPS Schools

On October 21 Education Committee Chair Kevin Chavous introduced a bill that would reward "high achieving" DCPS schools with some
charter-like autonomy so that they can "continue to improve their individual schools." The bill is co-sponsored by council members Catania, Allen, Mendelson, Brazil, and Schwartz.

The bill [B15-0522] would require the superintendent to develop criteria by which schools could be
identified as high achieving. Criteria must be developed in the areas of school fiscal management, Stanford 9 test scores, attendance, promotion, and graduation.

The bill requires the superintendent to develop additional
criteria by which schools can qualify to become Level II partially autonomous
schools, which will have even greater autonomy.

A school that
qualifies at the first level as a partially autonomous school would be permitted
to "determine the composition of [its] administrative, teaching, and facilities
staff" and also to "determine the curriculum." In addition, the school
could set its own calendar and control its day to day affairs pursuant to
regulations developed by the superintendent.

In addition to the
autonomy described above, a Level II partially autonomous school also would have
"fiscal responsibility over the operating budget for the school." What's
more, funding for the Level II school would come directly from the District --
not through the school system -- and would be the full amount produced by the
Uniform Per Student Funding Formula, not the reduced amount that the school gets
under DCPS's Weighted Student Formula.

Partially autonomous
schools of whatever level are to be run by an undefined group of people to be
known as "individual school stakeholders." These are "persons chosen to
carry out the responsibilities of running a partially autonomous school,
pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Superintendent."


The bill gives these stakeholders the power to ignore any
rules, regulations, or policies of the Board of Education that conflict with the
schools' own policies, so long as those policies are within the scope of the
freedoms granted by the bill.

Finally, the bill
provides that the superintendent could revoke the partially autonomous status of
any school that no longer met the achievement criteria.

FOCUS is
closely following the progress of this legislation and will report to you as
more information becomes available.


Mayor Wants Quick Action on School Control Change; Appears to
Lump Charters and DCPS together

FOCUS has obtained a copy of
a three-page paper produced by the mayor's Office of Policy and Legislative
Affairs that sets out the mayor's "Rationale for School Governance Reform."
The paper is dated October 27, 2003.

The paper urges the Council to
pass new legislation that would give the mayor and Council increased control
over the public schools. According to the paper, this control would enable
the District to expand school choice; promote local school autonomy and
streamline central administration (the paper mentions the Chavous legislation
discussed above); reduce the number of under-utilized school buildings; develop
uniform standards for early childhood education and fully fund pre-kindergarten;
implement statewide K-12 curriculum standards and hold public, public charter,
and private schools to them; extend the school day and year; accelerate
implementation of the District's special education reform plan; reestablish
vocational education programs; create smaller high schools; move to zero-based
education budgeting; include pay-for-performance principles in collective
bargaining agreements; and develop clear priorities around which to seek
philanthropic funding.

It is not clear from the paper just what
kind and degree of control the mayor is seeking, although from newspaper
accounts it can be assumed that the mayor wants the power to appoint the school
board and the superintendent, at a minimum. Whatever the mayor wants, he
wants it quickly. A "Timeline for Action" at the end of the paper calls
for the mayor and Council to reach consensus on a new kind of school governance
by November, to introduce legislation in December/January, to hold public
hearings in January/February, and to pass legislation and send it to Congress by
June.

Some of the language used in the paper should raise red flags in
the public charter school community. For example, the paper laments the
fact that "state level functions [are] fragmented between DCPS, chartering
authorities and the State Education Office (SEO)." Under current law, only
the chartering authorities have any state-like control over the charter schools.
Does the mayor seek to change the law so that the SEO (which is part of
the mayor's office) can create mandates that apply to the charter schools?
If so, this would be tantamount to eliminating the autonomy from
government regulation that enables charter schools to succeed where
government-controlled schools fail.

The paper's express goals of creating
K-12 curriculum standards that apply to all schools, including charter schools,
and of mandating the length of the school day and school year for all children,
are equally disconcerting. Although D.C.'s charter schools must have
academic standards that are at least as high as DCPS's standards, they are free
to adopt rigorous standards of their own. And although many D.C. charter
schools have longer school days and years, they have them because they are key
elements of their academic programs, not because of a government mandate.


We hope that these improper reform goals reflect a lack of
understanding of charter school autonomy, not a rejection of it. We'll
keep you posted.


Academic and Business Experts to Train Charter School Hopefuls

Those hoping to start their own D.C. charter schools will be guided through the process at FOCUS's first annual Charter School Startup Seminar, to be held the mornings of November 15 and 22 in downtown D.C.

The faculty for the two-morning program are all local experts who have worked with and for many of the existing charter
schools in the District.

At session I on November 15 those in attendance will learn how to build their schools' academic programs. Jeff Moredock,
Chief Operating Officer of the National Association of Independent Schools and a
board member at Cesar Chavez PCS, will start the program off with a discussion
about how to build a school's philosophy and mission. Jeff will be
followed by Jennie Niles, the founder of E.L. Haynes PCS (opening next fall),
who will talk about the heart of the academic program: standards, curriculum,
and assessment. Nancy Opalack, founder and director of Educational Support
Systems, which provides special education services to many D.C. charter schools,
will close out the program with a discussion of special education requirements.


The speakers at session II, to be held on November 22, will lead
the assembled through the key elements of the charter school business.
Karl Jentoft, co-founder and treasurer of Capital City Public Charter
School, and Josh Marks, founder and president of Goldstar, Inc. (which provides
"back office" services to charter schools), will discuss planning and running
the charter school business. They will be followed by FOCUS's Gil

Blankespoor, a former commercial real estate broker who now helps charter
schools find facilities, Milton Shinberg, who has served as architect for a
number of D.C. charter schools, and Tom Nida, chairman of Eagle Bank and a
member of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, who is a national expert on
charter school facilities financing. Gil, Milton, and Tom will walk those
in attendance through the process of finding, developing, and financing their
school facilities. Finally, Olivia Shay-Byrne of Reed Smith LLP will show
the charter school hopefuls how to comply with the many legal requirements they
will face.

Anyone wishing to attend the seminar should contact
FOCUS at 202/387-0405 to reserve a seat. The seminar is free but advance
registration is required.

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