- D.C. Public Schools Need $25 Million More -- for What? [FOCUS is mentioned]
- D.C. Attorney General Tells Charters to Go to Hell [FOCUS is mentioned]
- Public Schools in DC Better Funded Than Charters, Says Report [FOCUS is mentioned]
- Simmons: Mayor’s Plan Discriminates Against Charter Students [FOCUS, Thurgood Marshall, KIPP, and Friendship PCS are mentioned]
- Cheh: DCPS Food Service Cash Crunch is Result of Error, Not Rising Costs
- Deputy Mayor for Education Insulted Ward 4 Schools, Some Say
- Educators Say it Will Take More Than Dollars to Lure Effective Teachers to Struggling D.C. Schools
- Brown No Longer Pushing for Evaluation Waivers for Top Teachers Who Transfer
- D.C. Schools Chancellor Supports Teacher-Incentive Program
D.C. Public Schools Need $25 Million More -- for What? [FOCUS is mentioned]
The Washington Examiner
By Harry Jaffe
January 23, 2012
Bad news for DC Public Schools: Mary Levy is back. The perennial watchdog of school funding has been quiet, but her investigations of spending within the city's public school system are once again about to shed a harsh light.
"I don't think anyone controls that budget," Levy says. "The school system just spends money."
Money -- as in the $25 million DCPS will tell the city council it must have during a hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning. The schools say they need the money in supplemental funding to finish out the school year.
Two questions for the city council, handling the matter as a committee of the whole, since it has no education committee:
» Should the public schools have to live within their means, as other agencies must? City bean counters tell me privately the answer is yes.
» If the council agrees to fork over $25 million to the public schools, must it also allocate more funds to charter schools, in equal per pupil funding, as mandated by law?
Levy might be the only person on the face of the Earth with the interest, time and ability to make sense of the school budget. She has been trying to get a fix on how the District spends money on education since 1989. For two decades she worked under the auspices of the Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights. In that time she created the per-pupil funding formula upon which the system bases its budget. She lost the lawyer's gig in 2009 and has been consulting on public schools since. Vince Gray hired her to help the council make sense of the school budget back when he was council chairman.
Now the charter schools have asked Levy to compare public funding to the semi-independent charter schools to money that goes to DCPS. Under the congressional act that created the charters in 1996 and the council's own law, funding levels are supposed to be equal. Levy has concluded in a detailed report that they are not, by about $100 million a year in favor of the public schools.
The money matters will be in dispute before the council Tuesday when it considers the D.C. public school system's $25 million ask. Half of that is for increased costs of food; an estimated $3.4 million is to pay noninstuctional staff that was supposed to have been fired (really!); and nearly $3 million is for merit pay.
"The charters have to bear the same costs," Levy tells me. "Why don't they get the increase, too?"
Robert Cane, executive director of FOCUS, which advocates for charters, says they are weighing whether to file suit for equal funding. Levy asks more fundamental questions.
"The school system keeps getting more funding, but the money isn't getting to the classroom," she says. "The system receives more money, but the individual schools have less than before. How is it possible they get these increases, yet they are still screwing the local schools?"
Good questions for the council.
"You would think the council would apply more oversight," she says, "be more resistant."
Yes, you would.
D.C. Attorney General Tells Charters to Go to Hell [FOCUS is mentioned]
Examiner
By Mark Lerner
January 23, 2012
The Washington Post's Bill Turque says that D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan has rejected the argument by FOCUS's Robert Cane that both charters and DCPS are by law to receive their operating funds exclusively through the Uniform Per Pupil Funding Formula. Mr. Nathan contends that there is nothing in the School Reform Act passed by Congress in 1995 which created the charter school movement in the nation's capital or in other legislation that precludes adding money to DCPS's budget as the Mayor did the other day.
I really have just one comment. If the local representatives can simply supplement the revenue of the traditional schools at any time for any reason then why is there a Uniform Per Pupil Funding Formula?
As they say in the classroom, let's go back to basics. Here is Mary Levy's conclusion on uniformity contained in her excellent study:
"The basic concept underlying the uniformity mandate is that students similarly situated should have the same funding behind them whether they are in DCPS or a public charter school. The 1996 Congressional legislation that established charter schools in the District requires that annual payments from the DC general fund for DCPS and charter operating budgets be calculated by a formula providing a “uniform dollar amount” per resident student. The law allows the “uniform dollar amount” to vary on the basis of student characteristics -- grade level, special needs, failure to meet minimum literacy requirements, and enrollment in a residential school. Thus the Formula calculates funding based on students and their characteristics, but not on school or school system differences. The uniformity requirement applies to:
• Local funding – not federal or private
• Operating budgets – not capital
• DCPS and charter school budgets
Both the language and the legislative history of the uniformity requirement make clear that uniformity is not an elastic concept. The dictionary definition of “uniform” (from Webster’s New World Dictionary) is “always the same,” “identical throughout a state, country, etc.” The UPSFF is the exclusive mechanism for allocating all local operating funding to both DCPS and charter schools, no matter the existence of “special circumstances” or the point in the fiscal year.
The law itself states that if funds are insufficient the Mayor must reduce allocations “ratably … on the basis of the formula …;” and if funds become available they must be restored likewise. No additional mechanism is recognized in the School Reform Act or in contemporary legislative reports, and exceptions to uniform per student funding are specified, with no indication that others could exist" (pages 6 -7).
The D.C. Attorney General is simply making up an excuse to discriminate against charters so that DCPS can benefit.
Public Schools in DC Better Funded Than Charters, Says Report [FOCUS is mentioned]
Education News
By B.A. Birch
January 23, 2012
In the fall of last year education finance expert Mary Levy was hired by D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi to analyze the funding of public and public charter schools in the district.
The subsequent ‘Levy Report’ revealed that DCPS received operating funds of between $72 million and $127 million a year that weren’t available to charter schools.
Bill Turque at the Washington Post reports that DCPS receives the money by the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula, the legal mechanism designed to ensure that all public and public charter school students are funded equally. The current “base” amount is $8,943 per student.
Some of the extra has come from mid-year appropriations to cover DCPS overspending — like the $21 million Mayor Vincent Gray proposed to give the system last month.
Other money is attributed from differences in budgeting practices. The DCPS is funded each spring for the following school year. This money is based on enrollment projections; however, if the actual enrollment is lower than projected, the system’s budget is not reduced and the school pockets the money. Charters, on the other hand, are funded based on actual enrollment – and if the number declines, installments are cut.
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS) executive director Robert Cane and Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, said:
“These payments violate the requirement of D.C. law that DCPS and the public charter schools receive equal funding on a per-student basis. They also violate principles of equity, which require that we give each of our school children an equal chance to succeed regardless of which public school he or she attends.”
Levy’s report also reveals that charters are often excluded from services DCPS are given by other state institutions without charge.
“The Metropolitan Police Department, for example, has 46 “resource officers” assigned to help with security at DC public schools, but only 11 at public charters.”
Levy also claims that the Department of Mental Health has 30 full-time specialists serving non-special education students at 41 public schools. There are no such specialists in D.C. charter schools.
Using the Levy report as guidance, FOCUS believes an allowance of $3,000 per student should be given to charters. They also recommend a construction cost inflation escalator to help charters get bank financing for redevelopments.
Simmons: Mayor’s Plan Discriminates Against Charter Students [FOCUS, Thurgood Marshall, KIPP, and Friendship PCS are mentioned]
The Washington Times
By Deborah Simmons
January 23, 2012
The academic success of D.C. youths will be on the line Tuesday morning, when the D.C. Council is scheduled to take up the mayor’s request for a supplemental budget that would add $25 million to traditional public school coffers.
Ordinarily, education advocates say, that might be a worthy fight but for two huge problems. For one, D.C. school officials are notorious for overspending their budgets.
For another, none of those millions is set to be given to students who attend public charter schools.
In fact, advocates say, the mayor and the council could find themselves on the wrong side of the spirit and the letter of D.C. law if they approve the proposal, which is biased against 41 percent of the D.C. public school population.
Here is how Ramona Edelin, executive director of the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools, plans to explain things in her council testimony, which is based on a uniformity, equity and facilities study jointly commissioned by her organization and Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS), which is headed by Robert Cane.
• “Uniformity of per student funding between DCPS and the public charter schools is a statutory requirement to ensure that funding follows students.
• “The Formula is intended to fund all the traditional school system functions for which DCPS and charter schools are responsible, instructional, non-instructional, and administrative.
• “The total amount of extra non-uniform local operating funds that DCPS receives and public charter schools do not ranges from $72 million to $72 million annually.
• “Disparities contravene the DC School Reform Act. If the DC government funds only DCPS or only the charter schools outside the (universal per-student funding formula), via mid-year allocations or budgeting funds for some DCPS functions in other city agencies, uniformity is meaningless.”
So, in the interest of brevity, forthwith is my cheat sheet (sans party affiliation) on why I think lawmakers should reject the mayor’s proposition to discriminate against charter students.
Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown: He often walks the walk (and occasionally stumbles) when it comes to education reform. But even Mr. Brown, the only lawmaker worthy of a top hat regarding the importance of the middle school years, should not put a rubber stamp on the mayor’s proposal. After all, if it weren’t for charters, there would be not one single public middle school in all of Ward 5.
Ditto Council member Vincent B. Orange: He is an at-large member who lives in Ward 5.
Council member Marion Barry: He would readily admit that Thurgood Marshall college prep, located in his ward, is one of the most successful charter high schools in the Washington region.
Council member Yvette M. Alexander: Heard of KIPP and Friendship charter schools in Ward 7? Well, Friendship Collegiate flipped a boarded-up, godforsaken public school and quicker than you could say Carter G. Woodson turned it into not only an academically success schoolhouse, but a high school whose teens are recruited into the NCAA, as well — a notable feat considering traditional public schools don’t want to share their athletic facilities with their charter counterparts.
Council members Michael A. Brown, David A. Catania and Muriel Bowser: This is the council’s politically ambitious trio. Expect Task Master Catania to rescreen the council’s 2009 and 2010 Michelle Rhee videos titled “Show Me the Money.”
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
January 23, 2012
DCPS says it needs $10.7 million to cover increased food service costs that are busting its budget. But the D.C. Council member who shepherded legislation to improve the quality of school meals said Monday that the school system’s explanation “is not a proper portrayal” of the facts.
Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) said the real problem is that DCPS and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) inexplicably budgeted just $1.4 million in local funds for the current fiscal year, a reduction of 91 percent over the 15.2 million it spent in FY 2011.
“I don’t know how the CFO could have certified that,” Cheh said. “It’s a glaring hole.”
Neither DCPS nor OCFO had responded to requests for comment by early Monday evening.
Cheh said she plans to pursue the issue Tuesday, when the council takes up Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s proposal to use $21.4 million of the newly projected fiscal 2011 District surplus to cover DCPS cost overruns in the current fiscal year.
Cheh, sponsor of the Healthy Schools Act, said the assertion by Gray and DCPS that food costs have risen doesn’t square with the facts. At a panel discussion a few months ago, Cheh heard DCPS food services director Jeff Mills say that DCPS had served 2 million additional meals to low-income students while reducing costs by $1 million. Costs were also down because of the decision to contract with D.C. Central Kitchen and Revolution Foods for service at 14 schools. Their meals are much cheaper than Chartwells, the school system’s main vendor.
Mills did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.
DCPS is also asking for extra funds to cover the cost of non-instructional staff being carried on the central office budget, but Cheh said the food service situation gives her pause.
“If that’s the explanation on that spending pressure, it really drains my confidence that the explanation on the other measures should be counted on,” Cheh said. “I suddenly have my doubts about these explanations.”
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
January 23, 2012
Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright didn’t have good news for Ward 4 residents at last week’s meeting on school modernization. And he made the situation worse by insulting them, according to some who attended.
Wright announced that Coolidge and Roosevelt high schools would have their renovations postponed for a year under the new proposed capital budget. Then, in answering a question from the audience, he said that he wouldn’t send his child or godchild (there are conflicting versions) to either school because of the poor conditions. Many took it as a slam against the staff and student bodies.
“Very hurtful,” said D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) who co-moderated the evening with State Board of Education member Kamili Anderson at the Coolidge auditorium.
“How does a person responsible for public education come to a school and say that the conditions are not fit for him and ‘I’m not going to fix it.’”? Bowser asked.
Wright, who does not have children, said in an e-mail Sunday evening that he later tried to explain to the audience what he meant, and that he’s been taken out of context.
“My intention was only to recognize that the physical environments do not currently reflect the full amenities/resources that our kids need and deserve--and that I share the desire to see the Ward 4 community have the type of high-quality facilities that all of us would want for our kids....I reiterate my great appreciation and respect for the hard work and dedication of our educators and students in both school communities.”
Roosevelt and Coolidge families have watched and waited over the last few years as makeovers or total reconstructions of Woodrow Wilson, H.D. Woodson, School Without Walls, Cardozo and Anacostia have all been launched or completed. According to the current capital budget, design work on the $66 million modernization of Roosevelt is due to begin this fall, with occupancy by August 2015. Coolidge is a year behind, with design scheduled to start in fall 2014 and work completed by August 2016.
Under Wright’s proposed revision, a modernized Roosevelt would not be ready before 2016, or Coolidge before 2017. Bowser said she would fight for the city “to keep its promises to Ward 4.”
Wright said the delays were necessary “to allow for the right-sizing” of other construction budgets in the capital plan--another way of saying more money is needed for school projects closer to the front of the line. Wright did say that the one-year-delay would mean more money for Roosevelt and Coolidge. But he also did not rule out the possibility that one of the two schools would close. He said that the matter was not under “active” consideration, an answer that didn’t fill anyone with confidence.
Both schools need immediate help, parents and students said, no matter what changes are made to the capital budget. Roosevelt senior Jacquan Clark, who attended the meeting with his mother, the school’s PTA secretary, said there are rats, mold and rainwater that routinely drips through the ceilings. At least one bathroom has no sink.
To hear Wright, he said, just made it all worse.
“It was a complete, disrespectful waste of time,” Clark said. “Disrespectful and heartbreaking.”
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
January 23, 2012
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown got a generally positive reception at a Monday hearing for his proposed pilot program of bonuses, income tax credits and housing benefits to lure good teachers to low-performing schools. But educators cautioned that while the measure was a good start, it would take more that financial incentives to move effective instructors into challenging schools.
Supportive principals, better training and a chance for teachers themselves to lead education reform efforts are more important than cash, said one veteran teacher.
“Moving highly effective teachers from one school to another alone will not immediately ensure that high needs schools see dramatic changes in their classrooms,” said Cosby Hunt, a former DCPS teacher and manager of teaching and learning at the Center for Inspired Teaching, a training program for D.C. educators.
Brown’s bill, “The Highly Effective Teacher Incentive Act of 2011” would place a total of 20 teachers into four high-needs schools. In exchange for making the move, the teachers would receive:
— A $10,000 annual bonus (over and above any IMPACT bonuses).
— Homebuyer and housing assistance, including access to subsidized rental housing units; forgivable loans for a downpayment of up to 10 percent of the median home price in the District, and access to low-interest mortgage loans.
--Tuition assistance, including reimbursement for specific courses that lead to certification in high-demand subjects such as math and science.
— Loan repayment assistance for existing education loans.
— Income tax credits.
Like many urban school systems, the District’s best teachers are concentrated in schools where students need them the least. Of the 663 teachers deemed “highly effective”on the most recent round of IMPACT evaluations, just 71 work in the 41 schools in Wards 7 and 8, while 135 teach in the 10 schools in Ward 3.
Both public and public charter schools would be eligible for the program, with interested schools applying to OSSE. D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson pushed back at the measure a few months ago when an early version included a provision that would waive annual IMPACT evaluations for highly effective teachers willing to make the jump. Brown has pulled that section, and Henderson said at the hearing she was on board.
“We are thankful that the chairman’s office consulted with us to remove the barriers that would have precluded DCPS from applying to participate,” she said.
Other educators said the program needed to be on a larger scale to make a real difference. Candace Crawford, executive director of Teach Plus D.C., a non-profit that helps develop and retain effective teachers in urban schools, said effective educators must enter struggling schools in large cohorts and with heavy support. She said the Teach Plus effort in Boston, which involved groups of teachers equal to about 25 percent of a school’s staff, has improved some academic outcomes.
“It has dispelled the adage that effective teachers won’t teach in troubled schools,” Crawford said.
While such incentive programs are fine, the real issue, Hunt said, is not how to distribute a limited corps of effective teachers, but how to grow their number.
“The question is not how can we look to a few superstar teachers to serve as our fix-it crew, but rather, how do we raise the effectiveness of all our teachers?”
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
January 23, 2012
D.C. lawmakers are backing away from a plan to scrap evaluations for top-performing teachers who choose to transfer to the city's most challenging schools, instead focusing on lavish bonuses and incentives such as housing credits.
Staff for D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, who introduced the Highly Effective Teacher Incentive Act of 2011, said he is no longer pursuing a waiver of the evaluations because, after talks with D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, both parties decided the decision should be left up to the school system.
The idea was to put the waivers on Henderson's radar, and the message got across, they said.
Officials have been struggling to create more parity across District schools, and Brown has said the Impact evaluation system -- which rests on classroom observations and students' test scores -- proves too risky for teachers to relocate to schools where students perform below grade-level and present discipline challenges.
Of the 663 teachers rated "highly effective" last year, 71 teach at 41 schools in Wards 7 and 8, the city's poorest and most African-American areas. More than 130 highly effective teachers work at 10 schools in Ward 3, the city's wealthiest, whitest region.
What remains of the bill: $10,000 annual bonuses for teachers rated "highly effective" on Impact evaluations who relocate to public schools where proficiency rates dip below 40 percent in math and reading and 75 percent or more of students live in poverty. In a three-year pilot program, the teachers also would receive income tax credits and tuition and housing assistance.
Henderson said she supports the bill, as did State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley, who oversees DCPS and public charter schools. Mahaley recommended that the incentives be shared among highly effective teachers already in high-need schools.
Several education activists expressed doubt that a teacher who is highly effective in one school could quickly produce results in a different setting.
"Teachers are not interchangeable ... It's important that each teacher has the right fit in their schools and the right sensitivities to the community," said David Pickens, executive director of D.C. School Reform Now.
Educators also emphasized supportive principals and appropriate training, especially for teachers moving to new grade levels or subjects, said Cosby Hunt, a former DCPS teacher who works at the Center for Inspired Teaching, a training program for D.C. educators.
"The question is not how we can look to a few superstar teachers to serve as a fix-it crew, but how we can raise the effectiveness of all our teachers," Hunt said.
The Washington Times
By Tom Howell Jr.
January 23, 2012
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson broadly supports a bill that would entice high-performing teachers to the schools that need them the most, citing human capital as the “cornerstone” of her reform efforts.
Legislation by D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown proposes a three-year pilot program that offers a $10,000 bonus and other incentives to teachers who demonstrate excellence and are willing to relocate to “high-need” schools.
Ms. Henderson said the package of incentives would include efforts to retain and reward good principals, a key part of any pitch to teachers who are willing to transfer schools.
“We were woefully underpaying our principals compared to our surrounding jurisdictions,” Ms. Henderson said.
Testifying before the council’s Committee of the Whole on Monday, parents and education advocates warned that a teacher’s success in one school does not always translate to effective performance in another.
Besides monetary incentives, witnesses said the city also should consider preparation and collaboration as equally important to teacher success.
Mr. Brown’s bill “is a step in the right direction, but ensuring a highly effective teacher in every classroom in the city is not simply a matter of moving bodies from one school to another,” said Cosby Hunt, manager of teaching and learning at the Center for Inspired Teaching.
David Pickens, executive director of D.C. School Reform NOW, said that “on the surface” he supports most of the bill.
“However, the devil is always in the details,” he said, adding that highly effective teachers who already work at high-need schools should be eligible for bonuses and benefits, too, and not just newcomers.
Mr. Pickens also noted there should be protections for teachers who want to return to their initial school.
Under the bill, teachers are eligible for homebuyer and other housing assistance, tuition assistance and income tax credits in addition to the $10,000 bonus. Teachers risk losing their incentives if they break their three-year commitment to work at a high-need school.
The legislation defines “high-need schools” as those with a proficiency rate in reading and math below 40 percent and with 75 percent or more of its student body eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Sixteen states offer similar incentives to teachers who take jobs in underserved areas.
Ward 7 resident Alicia Rucker said she finds it “insulting” that hard-working teachers in lower-performing schools must make way for teachers who were pulled in by financial incentives.
Hosanna Mahaley, the District’s state superintendent of education, said the city should try to increase the number of highly effective teachers in the city — there is only one for every 77 students in D.C. Public Schools — and require schools to apply for the proposed pilot program.
Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said he will delete from the bill any references to the controversial teacher-evaluation tool known as IMPACT because it is expected to be “tweaked” in the near future.
The initial draft of the bill said teachers would still be evaluated under IMPACT but would not be at risk of losing their “highly effective” status during the three-year period.
Mr. Brown has said his goal is to help students in underachieving schools, not force teachers to leave their current schools.
“We’re going to create parity, and parity should be OK,” he said.
He also tried to correct misconceptions that the bill is about money alone.
“This is a package deal,” Mr. Brown said. “This is not just about $10,000.”
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