NEWS
- Six charter schools want to open in D.C.
- D.C. Public School expands budget by $25 million, decreases central office [Community Academy PCS mentioned]
Six charter schools want to open in D.C.
Watchdog.org
By Moriah Costa
March 13, 2015
The D.C. Public Charter School Board received applications from six charter schools that want to open a school in the District, the board announced on its blog on Friday.
The interested charters include Washington Leadership Academy, a blended learning high school; Goodwill Excel Academy, an alternative program offering a high school diploma; Breakthrough Montessori; Legacy Collegiate, a college prep elementary and middle school; Fostering Scholars, an elementary school; and Sustainable Futures, a competency-based program serving disconnected youth.
The board will accept public comments until 5 p.m. on May 11. The board will review each application, visit any existing schools, and conduct an interview before it votes on May 18.
The board has received 35 applications since 2012 and approved 14 while 16 schools or campuses have closed or are scheduled to close.
D.C. Public School expands budget by $25 million, decreases central office [Community Academy PCS mentioned]
Watchdog.org
By Moriah Costa
March 16, 2015
As part of an initiative to prioritize high schools, D.C. Public Schools will open four new schools and cut central office spending by 25 percent in its $726-million local-fund budget for the 2016 school year.
Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced the budget last week, which includes an additional $25 million from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Last year, the school district spent $701 million in local money.
“Together, this budget will allow us to continue to transform DCPS into the best urban school district in the country, and the school district we all want for our children,” Henderson said in a statement.
Many D.C. agencies are cutting spending as the city faces a $256.3 million budget shortfall, but the public schools will receive a 3.4 percent budget increase.
The budget calls for creating 200 school-based jobs and investing $13 million in high schools to expand Advanced Placement courses and elective courses, as well as athletics and career and technical programs.
Some high schools in D.C. don’t offer electives, so many of the 200 new jobs will go to hiring teachers for those programs. Other jobs include staff for school pools.
The district also will open four new schools, including two previously closed. It expects enrollment to increase by 1,500 students next year to a total of 49,000.
Enrollment for both traditional and public charter schools has increased six consecutive years. There were 37,684 students enrolled in public charter schools this year, an increase of 1,119 students, according to data from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
The four schools that will open are Brookland Middle School, which will focus on arts; Van Ness Elementary, which will focus on early childhood education; River Terrace Education Campus, for special education students; and a former Community Academy Public Charter School elementary campus, which the school district is taking over after the school’s charter was revoked last month.
Henderson’s budget also includes her “Empowering Males of Color” initiative, which has come under criticism by the American Civil Liberties Union and some D.C. Council members for potentially violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Part of the initiative includes private funding to establish an all boy’s school in the District, which was not reflected in Thursday’s budget.
The school district also will create its first per-student funding model to support libraries at each school, which range from $20 to $30 per pupil. A recent Washington Post analysis found that library books at schools are distributed unevenly, with 22 percent of students attending a school with less than 10 books per student.
The public school will also invest $45 million of funding for at-risk funding to the schools that need them. Last year, the money meant for at-risk students was spent elsewhere after the traditional public school said it didn’t have time to allocate the money based on enrollment.
The budget includes $1 million to fund a pilot program to extend the school year at Raymond Education Campus in Petworth.
Thursday’s budget announcement did not include any federal funding.
Individual schools have until next week to outline how they will spend their budgets and the budget will go to the D.C. Council next for approval.
__________
FROM FOCUS
 |
Upcoming events
Click Here > |
__________