FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin

April 9, 2004

--Mayor's FY 2005 Budget Shorts Charter Schools Again
--Budget Hearings Scheduled for April 19

Proposed FY '05 Budget Cuts Facilities Allowance, Pre-K Funding

Once again this year the administration wants to cut charter school funding to help it balance the education budget.

The Mayor's proposed budget, sent to the Council last week, would cut the charter school facilities allowance by $399 per student from its legally-mandated FY '05 level of $2,380. The approximately $7 million saved from this move would be "redirected" to the Department of Human Services to permit an increase in the Childcare Subsidy Fund for 3- and 4-year olds. No DCPS funding is diverted to the Fund.

The proposed budget also would cut funding by $552 per student for charter school and DCPS pre-k students. The millions saved through this cut would be used to create 1,054 new pre-k slots in DCPS schools next fall.

Both of these moves require changes to the School Reform Act. To that end, the administration has included two amendments in the FY '05 Budget Support Act. The first would cap the facilities allowance at $1,981 in 2005. The second would permit current-year funding of DCPS pre-k students (the law now requires that DCPS be funded on the basis of its prior year enrollment).

FOCUS has met with mayoral staff to express dismay over these changes, which are unjustified and harmful to public charter school students.

Charter schools do not have a capital budget and depend on a predictable facilities allowance to permit them to obtain financing for the acquisition and renovation of school buildings. Over the years, however, the charter schools have had to fight off repeated attacks on the facilities allowance. In FY 2003, for example, FOCUS was forced to ask Congress to pitch in federal dollars to increase the budgeted facilities allowance, which fell far short of the amount required by law. Congress agreed to do so, but only on the condition that in future the administration follow the law and fully fund the facilities allowance. The administration did so in FY 2004 (though it under-funded the charter school operations budget by $6.5 million), but now seeks to change the law to enable it to cut the FY '05 allowance.

FOCUS also expressed its objection to the proposed cut in pre-k funding, which will take more than $800,000 away from charter schools serving 4 year-olds and millions away from DCPS. Not only are these cuts objectionable in themselves but their purpose -- inducing DCPS to take on more pre-k students next fall -- is unlikely to be achieved because the per-student pre-k funding would be too low to cover the real costs of educating these students.

FOCUS is scheduling a series of meetings with Council members to urge them to eliminate these budget problems.

Budget Hearings Scheduled

Both the Education Committee and the Committee of the Whole have scheduled hearings on the budget on Monday, April 19. The
Education Committee will hear testimony on the education budget in room 412 of the Wilson Building from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The C.O.W. will hear testimony on the Budget Support Act in Chambers from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (The Budget Support Act contains the legislative changes that support the facilities allowance and pre-k cuts). Those wishing to testify should contact Andrea Delaney (Education) at 724-8178 or Aretha Latta (C.O.W)
at 724-8197.

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