FOCUS DC News Wire 5/29/2015

Real estate in D.C. remains a challenge for charter schools [FOCUS, D.C. International PCS and Washington Latin PCS mentioned]
One in five U.S. schoolchildren are living below federal poverty line

Real estate in D.C. remains a challenge for charter schools [FOCUS, D.C. International PCS and Washington Latin PCS mentioned]
Watchdog.org
By Moriah Costa
May 29, 2015

In this city, it’s not uncommon for charter school teachers to gather students in warehouses, or basements, or to combine small spaces for an art room, gymnasium and cafeteria.

Some say it’s because funding differences for facilities means charters end up with less. Others say it’s a lack of access to unused school buildings.

For Carmen Rioux-Bailey, chief education officer at the D.C. International Public Charter School, “space is sort of the civil rights issue for charters right now.”

Charter schools in D.C. often struggle to find permanent buildings in a city where real estate is scarce and expensive. To offset the cost, the city gives charter schools money based on how many students are enrolled.

The D.C. Council recently approved a $2 million increase in facility funding for charter schools, a 1.7 percent increase over last year.

Per-student facility funding was increased last year from $3,000 to $3,072, according to the Washington Post.

In comparison, the council’s $2.4 billion education budget includes a six-year $1.27 billion capital project for D.C. Public Schools. The council approved a new method to determine capital funding for traditional public schools based on data and need, but it does not apply to charter schools.

The changes came after hundreds of parents, students and advocates testified to the City Council about deteriorating public school buildings and a disparity in funding between wealthy and poor neighborhoods.

According to the Washington Post, more than $3.2 billion has been spent on public school renovations since 2007. Still, funding delays have caused many public school renovation projects to increase by as much as 20 percent.

While charter school leaders and advocates are happy to receive the extra money, some think it doesn’t mean a change in policy.

Last fall, the D.C. Council appropriated $4 million to Washington Latin Public Charter School and D.C. International School to help fund facilities, but Mayor Muriel Bowser froze the funds when she took office in January.

Robert Cane, executive director of Friends for Choice in Urban Schools, said the D.C. government needs to treat charter schools and traditional schools equally.

“This is kind of like giving with one hand and taking away with the other,” he said.

Martha Cutts, head of Washington Latin, says, “It’s not a lot, but it’s a start.”

Some think the solution involves turning the city’s unused school buildings over to charter schools. The city has 54 surplus school buildings, about half of which are leased to charters.

Rioux-Bailey, one of the founders of DCI, said it’s upsetting that some public schools are half-empty as choice schools are oversubscribed due to a lack of facilities.

“It’s really perplexing that there is space in the city and yet there’s an uneven distribution of that space for taxpayers (and students),” she said.

But D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson wants to keep some of those buildings in her control. In April, she testified to the D.C. Council that she wanted be able to open or close schools, depending on demand. The DCPS district is planning to open four new schools in 2015.

Charter school advocates locally and nationally have long criticized D.C. for failing to equally fund charters and traditional public schools. A pending lawsuit challenges the funding process and contends that charter schools have been shorted more than $770 million. Critics say that the city has a right under the D.C. Home Rule Act to change federal law when it pertains to local issues.

One in five U.S. schoolchildren are living below federal poverty line
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
May 28, 2015

More than one out of every five school-age children in the U.S. were living below the federal poverty line in 2013, according to new federal statistics released Thursday. That amounted to 10.9 million children — or 21 percent of the total — a six percent increase in the childhood poverty rate since 2000.

Childhood poverty rates were on the rise for every racial group, ranging from 39 percent for African Americans and 36 percent for Native Americans, 32 percent for Hispanics and 13 percent for Asians and whites.

The data, part of an annual report to Congress from the U.S. Department of Education, offers a snapshot of the country’s education system, including information about preschool, higher education and private K-12 school enrollment.

In 2013, the South had the highest rate of poverty for children ages 5 to 17, at 23 percent, followed by the West at 21 percent, the Midwest at 19 percent, and the Northeast at 18 percent. Mississippi had the highest rate (33 percent) and New Hampshire posted the lowest rate (9 percent).

The Southern Education Foundation reported in January that for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches at school, an indicator that a growing number of students come from low-income families. The federal lunch program provides reduced-price meals for families living at 185 percent of the federal poverty line, and free lunches for those at 130 percent of the federal poverty line. In 2013, a family of four with annual household earnings of $23,550 was at the federal poverty line.

This year’s report included a focus on kindergarten students and found that poor children start kindergarten with fewer “positive approaches” to learning and struggle academically compared to more affluent children.

“Positive approaches” include persistence in completing tasks, eagerness to learn new things, ability to work independently, adapting easily to changes in routine, keeping belongings organized and following classroom rules.

Researchers have found that children with more “positive approaches” tend to have stronger academic skills in kindergarten and first grade.

Asian or white girls who were older than 5 1/2 when they started kindergarten got the highest ratings from their teachers for positive approaches to learning, while black and Hispanic boys got the lowest ratings.

Kindergartners from two-parent households got higher ratings than students from single-parent or other household types. And children from affluent families showed more positive approaches to learning than those who live below the poverty line, the report said.

Some other highlights of the new data include:

• The nation spent $620 billion in federal, state and local dollars on public schools in 2011-2012, compared to $553 billion in the 2001-2002 school year.
• Charter school enrollment increased from 300,000 students in 1999-2000 to 2.3 million students in 2012-2013. The proportion of public school students who attend charters increased from 0.7 percent to 4.6 percent.
• Private school enrollment for pre-k through grade 12 decreased from 6.3 million in 2001–2002 to 5.3 million in 2011-2012, accounting for 10 percent of all U.S. students.
• From fall 2002 through fall 2012, the number of white students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools fell from 28.6 million to 25.4 million, and their share of public school enrollment decreased from 59 to 51 percent. Meanwhile, the number of Hispanic students increased from 8.6 million to 12.1 million, and their share of public school enrollment increased from 18 percent to 24 percent.
• English Language Learners made up 9.2 percent of public school students in 2012-2013, compared to 8.7 percent in 2002-2003.
• School crime has dropped significantly between 1992 — when 181 out of every 1,000 students said they were victims of a non-fatal crime at school — and 2013, when 55 out of every 1,000 students said they had been victimized.