The D.C. School Reform Act of 1995, DC’s charter school law, requires that all public school operating funding be distributed to DCPS and the individual public charter schools on a uniform per-student basis. In spite of this, DCPS annually receives tens of millions of dollars amounting to many thousands of dollars per student—more in operating funding than do the charter schools. This is accomplished in a variety of ways: by funding DCPS for its (always inflated) projection of enrolled students while funding charters only for actually-enrolled students; by having other government agencies provide free services such as building maintenance to DCPS that charters have to pay for; by providing DCPS (but not charters) with supplemental appropriations to cover such things as teacher pay increases; and by covering DCPS spending that exceeds its budget (most notably special education overruns).
DCPS also receives far more funding for school buildings than do the public charter schools. For FY 2012, the DCPS per student capital budget is $5,8 , while the public charter school per pupil facilities allowance is scheduled to be only $3,000. This inequity is even greater than it appears, as public charter schools, unlike DCPS, must use this funding to acquire their school buildings—most on the commercial market—not just to renovate them. Because of this, on average the public charter schools can provide only 100 square feet per student, while DCPS students enjoy 140 square feet (elementary), 170 square feet (middle) or 190 square feet (high).
At FOCUS’s urging, a law was passed in 2010 to establish an independent commission to study these operating and capital funding inequities and to recommend ways to eliminate them. FOCUS is working with the Deputy Mayor for Education to ensure that the commission will begin its work without delay and will have access to all the facts.