- Commission: Charter Schools Likely to Continue Gaining on DCPS
- Gray, Council Spar Over Special Election Funding
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
March 15, 2012
The D.C. Public Education Finance Reform Commission never drew any strong conclusions about the core issue that triggered its formation: inequities in the funding of public and public charter schools. But it gathered a lot of useful data, some of it projecting how the city’s two public education sectors are likely to grow over the next few years.
The projections, derived by the commission’s outside consultants, Collaborative Communications and the Finance Project, were culled from data kept by DCPS, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, the D.C. Public Charter School Board and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. It’s important to remember that projections are just that: informed guesses based on current information or trends. They can turn out to be wrong.
Still, what the commission staff called “key observations” are worth noting:
—Charter school enrollment, already 41 percent of the public school population, is expected to increase by 10 percent in 2013. Beyond that, it will likely slow to about six percent annually through 2015 then drop to two percent gains in 2016 and 2017.
—DCPS enrollment, stable for the last couple of years after decades of decline, will stay flat for the next two years, then grow about 1.5 percent annually through 2017. It means that charters will continue their growth to about 46 percent of the city’s public school population, while DCPS’ share will dwindle to 54 percent.
—While DCPS has touted its enrollment gains in the early childhood grades, the commission found that its total share of the school-age population remained the same between FY 2008 and FY 2012: 33.8 percent. It means that the system has not captured a larger portion of the public school “market.”
—Education spending is expected to decrease by about five percent in 2013 then grow more modestly, at about 2.5 percent annually through 2017.
—Even if more public charter schools are co-located in underutilized DCPS buildings, or are provided complete access to surplus facilities—as recommended in the recent IFF report—DCPS will continue to have more space than it needs for its student population.
“Addressing this issue is likely to require consolidation and/or school closings,” commission staff said.
The Washington Examiner
By Alan Blinder
March 14, 2012
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray's office is using funding of a special election to fill former Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.'s seat as leverage to get the mayor's $42 million supplemental budget approved, internal emails obtained by The Washington Examiner show, and elections officials said the lack of funding had placed plans for the election in jeopardy.
Since the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics declared Thomas' seat vacant in January, members of that panel have been seeking $318,000 to stage a May 15 vote to replace the former legislator, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.
Also in January, Gray asked the D.C. Council to approve $42 million in spending on public schools, health care, and maintenance of city vehicles and buildings. He included funding for the special election in the same package.
Citing looming challenges to securing approval of the full supplemental budget, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser asked Gray in a March 6 letter "to submit a separate ... request solely to fund the May special election."
In an email the next day, Rob Hawkins, a Bowser aide, wrote to Chris Murphy, Gray's chief of staff, "We think that funding the special election is distinct from supplemental funding."
Hawkins added, "We believe that funding for the special election is critical and hope that the executive [branch] shares this view."
But Murphy replied one minute later: "I believe you know we have a different view."
Earlier, Murphy had asked whether Bowser had urged Council Chairman Kwame Brown to take action on the $42 million request, saying the answer "would be a helpful piece of information."
So far, Brown has not scheduled a vote on Gray's proposal. In a February letter, most councilmembers said they thought the city should wait before spending unanticipated income.
In an interview with the Examiner, Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro accused the council of stalling approval of election funds.
"There has been a vehicle to fund this election sitting on the council's desk for two months," Ribeiro said. "If they want to have objections, let them object to it and come up with their own legislative package to address the issue."
Brown and Bowser did not respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday, the elections board warned that unless it receives funding quickly, the special election could be endangered.
"The board ... cannot administer this special election if funds are not promptly made available," board members wrote in a letter to Gray and Bowser that said elections officials won't be able to meet deadlines if funding isn't approved soon.
Ribeiro said Gray recognized the need for quick action and said the mayor was open to negotiations.
"There is no such thing as blackmail here," Ribeiro said. "The mayor is always open to discussion and compromise. That's part of government."
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