March 15, 2001

Testimony of Malcom E. Peabody, Chairman, D.C. Public Charter School Coalition
President, Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS)
District of Columbia Council
Committee on Education, Libraries, and Recreation Public Hearing on the Mayor's FY 2002 Proposed Education Budget

Mr. Chavous and members of the Committee, my name is Malcolm Peabody. I am chairman of the DC Public Charter School Coalition and president of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, a non-profit grassroots organization that supports the District's public charter schools.

As I sit here today the public charter schools are in a very different position than they were in budget hearings past. For the first time, the mayor's proposed budget appears to fully fund the public charter schools in accordance with the Uniform Per Pupil Funding Formula. This represents a very important step forward for the public charter schools and we are pleased at the mayor's action.

The mayor has taken another step forward this budget year: except for approximately $2,000,000.00 which he wishes to give to DCPS for new initiatives, the mayor proposes to fund DCPS at the level dictated by the Formula. Although under the law the $2,000,000.00 should be provided to DCPS through an increase in the Formula, the mayor's budget for DCPS represents the first time since the passage of the School Reform Act that a mayor has proposed school-system funding that is almost entirely Formula-driven.

We are very grateful to you and your Committee, which over the last two years have taken the lead on the issue of full and equitable funding for all D.C. public education students. Although you have heard today and will no doubt continue to hear calls to provide school funding outside the Formula, we urge you to hold fast.

Because the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula, although several years old, is not well understood, a brief word of explanation is in order. As you know, the School Reform Act dramatically changed the way public education in the District is to be funded. It was a change that the Board of Education ^[1] and the DCPS superintendent repeatedly requested Congress to make in order to avoid the DCPS budget being used as a “political football.” Instead of funding the charter schools or DCPS for operating expenses the Formula provides that it is each student who is funded. If a student chooses a DCPS school, DCPS gets that student's funding. If he or she chooses a public charter school, that particular school gets the funding. Each student is funded at the same level, creating parity between the public charter schools and DCPS. All general fund local education dollars are required to be distributed in this way.

This system benefits all of our school children by creating healthy competition for students between DCPS and the public charter schools. All of our schools will get better so as to attract students and the money they bring with them.

This point can not be emphasized too much. The public schools in the District – DCPS and charter – are to receive funding only for those students they are able to attract and hold. Parents now have a choice of schools for their children, and their choice determines where the funding goes. Budget increases for DCPS and the public charter schools, if any, come only if the number of students they serve increases.

Under the Formula, budgeting for public education thus becomes a mechanical process. The numbers of students enrolled in DCPS and in the public charter schools are plugged into the Formula, a few calculations are made, and the total local education budget for DCPS and the public charter schools is derived. Any return to system funding instead of child funding would take away the uniformity the law requires and the benefits it provides.

It is important to point out that we do not oppose funding increases and are not suggesting that the District government is prohibited from providing money for new initiatives or special programs to benefit DC public school students. We are saying, however, that additional monies have to be given through the Formula, which can be adjusted at any time to reflect the true cost of educating a D.C. public education student.

Need for a Formula Adjustment

This brings me to the second point I wish to make, which is that we agree with DCPS that it costs more to educate young children and children in special education than the Formula provides. The new State Education Office currently is researching what is being spent on such children in other jurisdictions, and we urge the Council to support any increases the SEO recommends.

Facilities Funding

Finally, it is important to note that in spite of the facilities allowance provided to the public charter schools to compensate for the lack of a public charter school capital budget, facilities financing remains one of the most difficult problems for the schools. Not only are facilities to house public charter schools in extremely short supply, but the reluctance of banks to finance facilities acquisition and renovation for these start-up schools represents a crisis in the making. We are very pleased that you are working with us to help the charter schools meet their facilities needs and hope you will also help develop a governmental solution to the financing problem.

Thank you.

^[1] See testimony of Karen Shook, president of the DC Board of Education, June 27^th, 1996 (1996 WL353916 [FDCH]).