FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin

Mayoral and Council Chair Candidates on Issues of Interest to Charter Schools –
Responses to WTU-COPE Questionnaire
FOCUS, June 6, 2006

Mayoral: Michael Brown, Linda Cropp, Adrian Fenty, Marie Johns, Vincent Orange
Chair: Vincent Gray, Kathy Patterson

Use of excess school space “to better improve traditional public education and the quality of life of our children”

Brown: I would rather turn excess school space into community hub centers, which would host everything from library resources, primary health care facilities, small business office space, tutoring and reading centers, and other community center functions. If space allows, I would also like some of these spaces to provide recreational facilities.

Cropp: Buildings not used for schools, traditional or charter, will be reserved for development of workforce housing to support teachers in becoming DC residents at an affordable price.

Fenty: [A]s the Board of Education and the Superintendent work to “right-size” school space, I will support the following principles: Decisions will provide flexibility for the potential of increased demand for education services; Saving from the reduction of excess space will be spent in the classroom; and Use of “excess” space will provide benefit to the local community.

Johns: I am open to leasing school space and am open to discussing with developers their proposals for the space.

Orange: I would ensure that the 8.2 million dollars that is projected to be available from the school closings are real and the dollars are utilized in the classroom for both teachers and students.

Gray: I propose the District lease the property that is not being utilized by charter schools to developers at a low price and for a substantial period of time, on the condition that the developers create affordable housing.

Patterson: First, through leasing space and being able to reallocate the funds…back into the base DCPS budget….Secondly, through partnerships with other city agencies for use of some of that space, to build the kind of “community centers” we have talked about for so long.

Janey is recommending to consolidate and close small schools while, in an “apparent inequity,” charter schools of the same size are being supported by public funds

Brown: This is clearly an inequity, and to create a more level playing field, any charter schools also suffering from excess space should be considered for consolidation or closing as well.

Cropp: I believe that small schools have their place both in the traditional or non-traditional arenas. Each school needs to be evaluated on its own merit and accomplishment….

Fenty: DCPS and a charter school make their own decisions about the size of their school independent of each other. A potential charter school provides a plan to finance and manage a particular size school and is awarded a charter based, in part, because its chartering authority believes that the plan is viable. The Board of Education makes the determination about the viability of the size of its individual schools….

Johns: One of the reasons why the charter school movement caught the public’s attention is because of the size of the schools. Study after study shows that in education, size does matter – and smaller is often a good thing. The reality is that some schools needed to be consolidated and closed. It is a hard reality, but as a buck-stops-here leader, I can tell you that I applaud the tough decisions that the superintendent had to make.

Orange: The inequity must be carefully examined and addressed. There must be parity across the board.

Gray: In contrast, charter schools traditionally have secured loans to rehabilitate their facilities. Typically, they do not educate students in conditions as deplorable as many of our traditional public school facilities….The playing field regarding facilities has not been level concerning traditional public schools and charter schools. Charter schools have had the flexibility of acquiring low interest revenue bonds which are repaid through their per pupil allotment. The School Modernization Financing Act, hopefully, will facilitate the kind of equality required. As a general proposition, if there are inequities noted in how traditional public schools are required to operate vis-à-vis charter schools, as Chairman I will support fixing them immediately.

Patterson: One difference in DCPS is that we have small schools in very large buildings, and that issue does need to be addressed through rightsizing….The challenge in maintaining high quality small schools is to provide the resources to those schools that make the most sense….Public charter schools operate on a per-pupil allocation, and traditional public schools should do the same – but with assistance from central administration to make the very best use of resources, with flexibility to maintain good academic programs.

Ensuring equity in funding and academic accountability between DCPS and charters; ensuring that students in traditional public schools get a good education

Brown: If the same resources are given to both public schools and public charter schools, then their requirements of success should be the same.

Cropp: As Mayor…I will propose legislating (educational) standards, once proposed, in all subject areas to give them the force of law….To appropriately support performance and accountability, a majority of appropriated local funds must reach local schools. This is a critical problem facing our system, and one of the major drivers for the appearance of inequity of funding between charters and traditional public schools, regardless of the uniformity of funding at the administrative level….I will make sure that our State Education Office is empowered to make recommendations to right-size our financial approach to education for DC needs.

Fenty: DCPS educates over 75% of our public school students. It is mandated to educate all our children and must accept all students transferring from other schools….I will focus my administration on supporting the reform policies of the Board of Education….I firmly believe that education must be this City’s #1 priority. DCPS is the flagship in this effort….The number of charter schools has increased very rapidly in the District. Monitoring must catch up. For starters, my Administration will ensure that the public has comparable information on the performance of all DCPS and charter schools. My Administration will ensure that both DCPS and charter schools are working on increasing graduation rates and that we know when, where and why a student has transferred or has just dropped out.

Johns: Charter schools should be accountable. There should be one chartering committee overseeing the charter schools, not two. These decisions will be part of the Superintendent’s job and the school board and the superintendent will be responsible for making charter’s [sic] accountable.

Orange: Traditional public education is the number one priority today….There is no question that public and chartered schools are in competition. The elements of funding and monitoring will be closely examined to ensure compliance.

Gray: Within the parameters of the Council’s authority, role and responsibilities, as Chairman I will work to ensure that there is fairness and equity in funding approaches, monitoring, and assessments of performance between traditional public schools and charter schools. This will include optimal use of the Council’s oversight authority for both traditional public schools as well as charter schools. In addition, when I am Chairman I also will pursue a complete comparative review of the ways in which funding is provided to both entities and how performance accountability is measured. Given the amount of money spent on education in the District….it is well worth the investment to develop a comprehensive and fair approach to performance measurement so that there is a reasonable basis for comparison. Therefore, I will work for development of a comprehensive Quality Assurance system so that we have a fair and objective method of comparing the performance of the respective approaches….The Uniform Per Student Funding Formula…[provides] a framework for measuring equity in the allocation of resources. The question is whether that is the case and whether our capacity is sufficient to effectively measure adherence.

Patterson: As Education Committee chairman over the last year I have supported equity in funding and will continue to do so as Council Chairman. I have also introduced legislation to protect the public investment in charter schools in the event that charter schools close….I am working with, and will continue to work with, the leadership of public charter schools on quality assurance issues. Public charter school leaders are in the forefront in wanting to assure that the accomplishments of strong charter schools are not threatened by failures of other charter schools, and I am open to amendments to the charter school authorizing law to promote better accountability and quality assurance.

Support for the same teacher credentialing requirements for charter school teachers that DCPS has

Brown: Yes….It’s important that all teachers in the District…are held up to the same standards.

Cropp: Federal law exempts charter schools from D.C. credentialing requirements. We should have minimum standards for teachers in all schools supported by public funds, both charter and traditional schools. At the same time, I support a learning environment that fosters creative and innovative teaching. Teachers in both charter and traditional schools should have equitable pay, benefits, training and retirement.

Fenty: The No Child Left Behind Act requires DCPS to have highly qualified teachers in core subjects….DCPS is moving rapidly to fulfill this requirement. Meeting national standards by securing highly qualified teachers should give DCPS a competitive [sic] over other schools that have less qualified [teachers]….I believe that all District parents should be able to rely on having a qualified teacher in their child’s classroom. However, federal law governing D.C. charter schools does not require any specific credentialing. Nonetheless, charter schools should make their credentialing requirements and the qualifications of their teachers known to the public as well. As Mayor, I would require that charter schools be transparent about the qualifications of their teachers.

Johns: No….My understanding is that right now there are some terrific non-credentialed teachers at the charter schools.

Orange: Yes.

Gray: Absolutely!...While I do believe that not every student performs to the best of his or her ability in the same setting, the end goal for all educational institutions must be improved academic performance and graduating young people with marketable skills. And this is not possible unless we ensure that all teachers within public education are held to the same standard.

Patterson: Under the School Reform Act, passed by Congress, public charter schools are exempt from personnel and credentialing policies of DCPS. Federal law, however, does require all public school teachers to be “highly-qualified” under the No Child Left Behind Act. I support this requirement, and providing the tools and opportunities for teachers to attain that status. While I believe that there may be different avenues for achieving the proper credentials (alternative certification being one of them), at the end of the day we should be holding all of our public school teachers to the same high standard.

Friends of Choice in Urban Schools
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