Charter Leaders Stymied in Efforts to Acquire, Renovate Abandoned Buildings

While District public charter school leaders search desperately to find suitable facilities, more than 50 public school buildings sit empty, most badly deteriorated from vandalism, roof leaks, and weather damage. More often than not, these buildings blight the neighborhoods in which they sit, dreary testaments to the suburban flight that has diminished from 150,000 to only 71,000 the number of students attending DCPS schools.

As of April 1, 1999, seven existing public charter schools located in inadequate temporary quarters and six schools slated to open in September have not secured suitable space for next school year.

How is it possible that public charter schools willing to pay millions for renovations and a school system with excess property have been unable to come together—especially since Congress has given charter schools preferred access to empty school buildings?

The answer lies in the unwillingness of DCPS officials to obey the requirements of the charter school law and to follow their own procedures.

Congress directed the Control Board to begin disposing of unused properties in early 1997, but it was not until late in that year that DCPS announced a disposition policy. FOCUS, working through the DC Public Charter School Coalition, negotiated persistently with DCPS's Emergency Board of Trustees to make the policy workable for the 15 charter schools interested in vacant DCPS property.

In spite of these efforts, the system proved agonizingly slow, as all properties were put out for bid on the open market. Charter schools had to wait until the bid process ran its course before being permitted to invoke the agreed-upon preference, which enabled them to buy the property at the bid price less a 15% or 25% discount.

The result of this cumbersome procedure was that few charter schools pressed their bids for DCPS property. Those that did found themselves mired in a labyrinthine process in which necessary approvals were repeatedly delayed, first at the staff level and then by the Emergency Board of Trustees and Control Board.

These delays forced two charter schools to abort their openings. Many other schools were forced into makeshift spaces such as church basements or into short-term leases in underutilized or unoccupied school buildings. One school that persevered through the process, matching the bid of a commercial bidder and coming up with a $100,000 deposit, was told that it would not be permitted to buy the building under the agreed-upon terms.

In recent months things have gone from bad to worse. The DCPS office responsible for disposition of unused property is no longer staffed. Public charter schools expecting to renew their leases to DCPS space for another year have been told by DCPS that they may have to move out. Although the Control Board recently approved one long-delayed sale, all other sales and leases are in limbo. This is nothing short of a crisis, since these schools need at least five months to prepare their schools for the new school year.

DCPS's failure to part with abandoned buildings affects thousands of the District's public school children. It is also very bad for the neighborhoods in which the abandoned schools are located and for the District as a whole. Once renovated and filled with school children, these empty, decaying buildings—now of interest only to vandals—could act as a powerful antidote to suburban flight, keeping parents in the District who might otherwise go elsewhere in search of a good education for their children.

Both the law and common sense require that DCPS reform and restart the disposition process. FOCUS, working through the DC Public Charter School Coalition, will continue to exert every possible effort to see that this happens without delay.