The Washington Business Journal
Letter to the Editor
D.C. needs schools, not glitzy condos
- by Robert Cane
Big-name developers selected by the D.C. government recently presented their ideas for developing the shuttered Stevens and Hine school buildings. The D.C. government does not have the students to fill these buildings and many others because enrollment has been declining for decades. But this does not mean that the District has a school building surplus. Far from it. There are two types of public schools in D.C. — the city-run school system and public charter schools run by independent nonprofits.
The charter schools desperately need buildings like Stevens and Hine. Four charters bid for Stevens and another four for Hine under a D.C. law that says charters have the right to negotiate with the city to buy or lease surplus city-owned schools before developers can make offers on them. Tragically the city government rejected all eight bids.
The government’s rejection of the charter bids is not an isolated example. The city has consistently favored developers over charter schools. Because of this policy, many charters lack basic school facilities like playgrounds, gymnasiums, playing fields, auditoriums and cafeterias.
This tale of two potential uses for school buildings — the children of underserved communities who need them vs. the luxury condominiums, boutique hotels and tony gyms preferred by the city — is profound. These different uses mirror the divide in the District between the locations in which these glittering real estate prizes are situated and the neighborhoods in which so many public charter school children grow up.
Robert Cane is executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools.