FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin

February 5, 2004

--$6.5 Million Headed To Charter Schools
--DCPS Official Enrollment Sinks; Charters Grow To 18%
--Nine New Charters Likely to Open in '04
--Mendelson Introduces Parent Preference Bill; Ambrose Co-Sponsors
--Maya Angelou PCS to Open Second Campus; Signs Deal with DCPS
--Board of Ed Seeks to Limit Charter Applications
--FOCUS Expands Startup Capacity


Council Approves Extra Millions for Charters

The D.C. Council approved on Tuesday Mayor Anthony Williams's FY 2004 Supplemental Budget Request, which includes $6.5 million for
charter schools. It is expected that the funds will be distributed to the charter schools along with their regular April 15 payment. The money is intended to compensate the charter schools for the $32 million dollars in "enhancements" that DCPS was given this year outside the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula and is expected to amount to close to $500 per student.

Tuesday's Council action was the culmination of nearly a year of advocacy by FOCUS and others, involving the administration, the Council, and the Congress. In addition to the infusion of these funds, FOCUS has received a promise from the administration that in future no operating funds will be provided to DCPS outside the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula.

Audit Puts DCPS Resident Enrollment at 61,064; Serious Problems with Enrollment and Residency Records Noted

A just-completed outside audit of DCPS's 2003-2004 enrollment shows that DCPS has experienced another significant drop in enrollment this year. The audit also revealed continuing "weaknesses in both the procedures for obtaining valid proof [of
residency] as well as the procedures for maintaining accurate student information."

In 2002-2003, the auditors verified a DCPS resident enrollment of 63,369, nearly 4% greater than this year. Since the first
charter schools opened in 1996, DCPS's student count has dropped more than 20 percent. Meanwhile, unofficial charter school enrollment has grown to approximately 14,000, more than 18% of overall public school enrollment and an increase from last year of 22%. The charter school audit is due out next week.

Under the School Reform Act of 1995, which created the charter schools, DCPS and the charter schools are to be funded by the District only for DC- resident students actually enrolled in their schools. Funding for special education students enrolled in non-public schools or public schools in surrounding counties are counted and funded separately. According to the audit, DCPS currently enrolls 2,595 of these students, an increase of 7% over last year.

Nine New Charters To Open Next Fall

On Monday night the DC Public Charter School Board gave conditional approval to three more charter schools, bringing its total of approved or conditionally-approved schools this year to six. Conditional approval is no guarantee of final approval but almost always leads to that result. The Board of Education last week gave final approval to its three conditionally-approved schools.

Eight of these nine schools are expected to open next fall, along with another DCPCSB school that was approved last year but delayed its opening. These nine would bring the total number of D.C. charter schools to 46, a 24% increase, occupying 51 campuses.

The six DCPCSB schools are Two Rivers (Pre-K - 8th; Expeditionary Learning); E.L. Haynes (Pre-K - 12th; math and science); D.C. Bilingual (age 3-5th; bilingual/multicultural); Howard University Math/Science Middle School; William E. Doar PCS for the Performing Arts (pre-K - 12th); and AutoArts Academy (HS).

The three approved Board of Education schools are Arts Explorer Performing Arts Conservatory (5th-8th); Mary McLeod Bethune Day Academy (Pre-K - 8th; academic prep/language immersion); and Young America Works (HS; vocational/technical).


Council Members Introduce FOCUS-Drafted Bill to Encourage Parents to Found Charter Schools

In the Council Legislative Session on Tuesday Council Member Phil Mendelson introduced an amendment to the School Reform Act that would give a small number of parents who found new charter schools an admissions preference for their children. The bill is
designed to encourage parents to start charter schools rather than to move to Maryland and Virginia to find suitable public schools for their children.

Under current law governing charter school admissions, charter schools must hold a lottery when there are more applicants to a school than there are places. This means that parents who wish to start a charter school have no guarantee that their children will be able to attend the school once it opens. The lottery requirement as applied to the children of founding parents is a major disincentive to their starting charter schools, as to do so requires as much as two years of intensive effort.

If the amendment becomes law, there will be an admissions preference for up to 20 of the children of a school's founders, or 10% of the student body, whichever is less. These amounts are comparable to those allowed in other states and conform to U.S. Department of Education requirements.

Maya Angelou to Expand with DCPS as Partner

Maya Angelou Public Charter School (MAPCS) will open a second campus next fall at Evans Middle School, one of the many underutilized DCPS school buildings, which DCPS will provide and minimally modify at no cost to MAPCS. Use of the Evans building is part of a 10-year "cooperative educational venture" between MAPCS and DCPS, under which the charter school will work with four DCPS high schools to identify students in need of MAPCS's specialized program. DCPS students accepted into the
program will be students of the charter school but will remain eligible to participate in DCPS programs.

The MAPCS program, now offered at its campus at 9th and T. Streets N.W., is aimed at at-risk students and features
a variety of innovative approaches, including an extended school day and year, intensive academics combined with intensive counseling, small classes, tutoring and mentoring, and student participation in school-run entrepreneurial businesses.

Board of Ed "Prospectus" Short Circuits Charter Application Process

The Board of Education is planning to implement a new multi-stage application process designed to screen out "clearly unqualified"
applicants on the basis of a 20-page prospectus that does not include half of the items mandated by law to be in the application. The Board has set a February 25th deadline for submission of the prospectus. Applicants who do not file a prospectus or whose prospectuses are found wanting will not be permitted to file a formal application (known as a "petition") for a 2005-2006 charter.

FOCUS has been in discussions with Board staff about the illegality of the new process under the School Reform Act, D.C.'s charter law, and has written the Board urging reconsideration. FOCUS also has sought legal advice on the issue.

The Board evidently wishes to implement this process to save "applicants with no chance of approval" the time and effort required to write petitions, which can run to 200 pages. The Board also wishes to save the time and expense required to have the petitions of such applicants reviewed by Board staff and outside experts.

In its letter to the Board FOCUS pointed out that the School Reform Act does not permit the Board to prejudge which applicants are so unqualified that they have no chance of approval. On the contrary, the Act mandates the petition process as the means by which an applicant's suitability for a charter is to be determined. The Board may not overthrow the Act's clearly-defined
application process for reasons of expediency.

Recognizing that the application process as elaborated by the chartering boards over the years has become excessively burdensome both to applicants and to the boards themselves, FOCUS suggested that the Board consider shortening the petition by going back to the original requirements set out in the School Reform Act.


New Director of Academic Services to Supplement FOCUS's Startup Offerings

FOCUS has hired Cynthia Millinger to help charter applicants develop their schools' academic programs and complete the academic
and accountability sections of their applications. Millinger, who has taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, came to FOCUS from New American Schools, where she helped new schools develop their educational programs. Prior to NAS she taught at Paul Junior High PCS and at the Maret School, an independent school in the District. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University and has a masters degree in middle school education.

Millinger joins Alicia Daugherty of FOCUS in spearheading the new startup effort. Daugherty, who joined FOCUS early last year as Policy and Programs Associate, splits her time between management of the startup program and involvement in FOCUS's longstanding advocacy efforts on behalf of D.C.'s charter schools. Daugherty is a graduate of Columbia University.


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