FOCUS and Public Charter Schools in the News: June 2012

Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS) is now the DC Charter School Alliance!

Please visit www.dccharters.org to learn about our new organization and to see the latest news and information related to DC charter schools.

The FOCUS DC website is online to see historic information, but is not actively updated.

With the end of the school year and public charter school graduation ceremonies in full swing, June was already going to be a busy month for the DC public charter community.  But with the DC government making headlines too, public charter schools and the issues they face made the news frequently this month.  For a quick review of the relevant articles, here are a few articles that are worth your time!

 

D.C. Budget: Charter Facilities Pay in Flux (The Washington Post, 6/4/12)

 

This article describes how the DC Council failed to maintain public charter school funding of $3,000 per student as mandated by law.  In the past, the DC government has relied on three-sector funding, meant to fund the DC Voucher program, DCPS, and DC public charter schools, to attain the $3,000 from the Education Department.  However, the Department wants fewer three-sector funds used toward this end, contending that it should be used to increase student achievement more directly. 

 

At the end of the article, FOCUS Executive Director Robert Cane offers an explanation for this latest move: “I think that in [Education Department] they wonder why the District government can always find money for the school system and not the charter schools.”  Additionally, Bill Turque hits on what is at stake: “This matters because charter schools depend on steady cash flow from the allowance to pay rent, mortgage and construction loans. Charter educators say lenders get nervous when the allowance fluctuates, making it harder for schools to get financing.”

 

Post-Brown Council Must Revisit School Governance (The Washington Times, 6/10/12)

 

Deborah Simmons summarizes suggestions from education advocate Jeff Smith as the DC Council moves forward, one of them being to give public education its own panel rather than having it under the jurisdiction of the Committee of the Whole.  Simmons, in turn, sees the current council turnover as an opportunity to consider school governance for DCPS and public charters more broadly.  Particularly, she argues that councilmembers should ask themselves the following question: “Does it still make sense to have an elected school board operating under the political thumb of the mayor?”

 

Schoolhouse Hunting (The Washington City Paper, 6/13/12)

 

Written by Lydia DePillis, this piece provides two revealing narratives on the facilities issues facing public charter schools.  The first involves Washington Yu Ying PCS.  As founder Mary Shaffner completed five applications a few years ago for different surplus DCPS buildings, “[o]ne after another, the city decided to keep the building, her application was rejected, or the process dragged on.”  The second story is that of Washington Latin PCS.  The school’s aspirations to expand its student body are stifled by the lack of access to surplus DCPS space.  In light of these difficulties, DePillis explains that “[o]ther charters find themselves paying too much for buildings with no natural light and no playground space, or spread out across multiple locations, always thinking about their next home.”

 

Overall, the article traces the history of how public charters are prevented from having access to former DCPS buildings, which we also highlight on our Facilities page. 

 

Washington, DC Charter Schools’ 39 Members of Class of 2012 All Head to College (WUSA 9, 6/14/12)

 

You read it right – the entire Capital City Public Charter School Class of 2012, the school’s first graduating senior class, is college-bound!  If you’re interested in seeing more encouraging statistics indicating that public charters have been successful in the District, look no further than our Education Policy Dashboard and School Quality Dashboard!    

 

More Than 17,000 Names on D.C. Charter School Waiting Lists (The Washington Examiner, 6/25/12)  

 

Regarding the length of public charter waiting lists, DCPCSB Executive Director Scott Pearson contends, "These numbers are a powerful indicator of D.C. families' demand for more quality school options. We realize there is a large gap between that demand and available slots, and we remain committed to ... transforming public education so that more D.C. children can attend the school of their choice."  In turn, the high number of DC students on public charter waiting lists reflects the growth of DC public charters since they first opened.