FOCUS and Public Charter Schools in the News: May 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.

DC public charter schools continue to make headlines for their achievements.  May’s relevant articles tell just part of the story of how far public charters have advanced DC public education in spite of the adversities they face.  Here are five particular pieces that we recommend! 

 

D.C. Charters Shortchanged Again, With No End in Sight (The Washington Examiner, 5/1/12)

 

In his OpEd, FOCUS Executive Director Robert Cane warns against labeling the Mayor’s latest public charter allocations as supplemental funding.  In fact, he points to how these funds were rightfully owed to the charter community due to increased summer school and special education enrollment. 

 

Furthermore, he points toward the overall climate of inequity in DC public education funding, explaining that “[u]nlike charter schools, which have to cut back if they overspend, DCPS routinely outspends its appropriation” and “[o]ver the past five years, each District charter student was allocated between about $1,500 and $2,500 less annually than his or her DCPS peers in city funds.”  This shortfall in funding is especially dangerous given the disadvantaged groups charters successfully serve. 

 

 

Growth in DC CAS Scores Shows Why Parents Should Choose Charters For Their Kids (Examiner, 5/8/12) 

 

Mark Lerner highlights our School Quality Dashboard in explaining the triumphs of public charter schools as seen through DC CAS scores.  In doing so, he contrasts this achievement with the DC CAS scores of DCPS schools, explaining:

 

For a child attending a school in an affluent area such as Ward 3 the median growth in reading and math over two years is about 70 percent.  But for a pupil in Ward 8 that increase in both subjects averages 45 percent.  Therefore, students who may have been at the same level in 2009 will be in extremely different academic places a couple of years later.

 

For more on the successes of DC public charter schools, click here.

 

 

Two Rivers Public Charter School, an Inspiration for a Multicultural D.C. (The Washington Post, 5/9/12)   

 

Tamara Brown, a Two Rivers Parents, comments on how “Two Rivers teaches students to work together in diverse groups to solve problems,” an important skill given the increasing diversification of the workplace.  She also mentions how this model serves disadvantaged populations well and includes Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s praise of Two Rivers’ support for its students.   

 

Want to learn more about the exceptional work of Two Rivers students?  Check out this article on their recent student projects!

 

 

Neighborhood Admissions Preference for Charter Schools to be Studied (The Washington Post, 5/10/12)

 

Bill Turque’s article comments on a contested issue in the charter school community.  In the FY13 budget, Council Chair Kwame Brown calls for a task force to make recommendations on implementing a neighborhood preference system for charter school admissions.  He cites such systems that have been adopted in New Orleans and Chicago in claiming that changes to the current admissions process are necessary. 

 

Turque notes that some schools are intrigued by this latest step, but some charter leaders are hesitant.  Lerner, for instance, writes in Examiner that the admissions process should continue as is, “without being micromanaged by politicians.”  As a direct response to Chairman Brown’s comments, he argues:

           

Well, Mr. Brown, the only model that is not currently working to the satisfaction of stakeholders is the traditional one.  By almost any measure, whether it is parent satisfaction, standardized test scores, high school graduation rates, college acceptance percentages, or population growth, charters now consistently outperform DCPS.

 

Relatedly, in a Washington Examiner piece, Jonetta Rose Barras commends Executive Director Robert Cane’s point that “[t]he real problem . . . is not enough quality seats. If you had enough schools that were good schools we wouldn't be having this conversation.”

 

 

FOCUS Runs Advertisement Criticizing the Mayor’s Charter School Budget (Examiner, 5/23/12)

 

Lerner notes the FOCUS advertisement running in the Current.  The advertisement has a simple message: public charter students should not be treated in the budget as if they have less value than DCPS students. 

 

Once again this year Mayor Gray’s proposed budget underfunds the public charter school facilities allowance. This underfunding will play havoc with charter school budgets and make it harder for charters to get bank loans to acquire and renovate school space. The D.C. Council can fix this problem by coming up $3.2 million by June 5 to include in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. 

 

Keep checking our blog alongside our Twitter and Facebook pages for the latest on this issue.  In the meantime, for more background on public charter funding issues, visit BeFairDC.org.