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The D.C. Council began revising Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's proposed $5.4 billion budget yesterday, keeping Emancipation Day as a District holiday, restoring charter school funding and all but gutting the office of the deputy mayor for education.

At a news conference to announce their "markup" of the spending plan, council members signaled their intention to scrap a proposed $51-a-year charge to residents' electric bills for streetlight maintenance as well as efforts to raise the 911 tax that is applied to phone bills. They also endorsed an expansion of pre-kindergarten.

Several council members are vowing to prevent any reductions in school crossing guards and to continue working for universal access to health insurance. The council also set aside about $8 million for employee raises in future contract negotiations.

Many of the council's revisions appeared aimed at various interest groups that have expressed unhappiness with Fenty's program cuts in the middle of a recession.

Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) said the proposed changes did not increase spending. "We are still operating with the same money that was on the table at the beginning," he said. "We just have differences on how to spend it."

A final council vote on the budget is scheduled May 12. But council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), chairman of the Finance and Revenue Committee, warned that the lawmakers might have to make additional adjustments, including possible spending cuts, in summer or fall when the council receives updated revenue forecasts.

"We have to be diligent. We have to be careful," Evans said.

Fenty (D) projected savings of $1.3 million in overtime holiday pay to employees by dropping the four-year-old Emancipation Day, which commemorates President Abraham Lincoln's freeing of the District's 3,000 slaves in 1862. Gray said he thinks the day has "tremendous symbolic value" to the city.

Fenty's proposal to do away with the $3,109-per-pupil allotment for public charter school facilities drew loud criticism from charter advocates. District officials said some schools were using the money for personnel and other non-facility costs.

Critics said the proposal, which would have cut facility funding from $90 million to $66 million, deepened an already substantial inequity between public charters and D.C. public schools, which receive facilities money from the capital budget and the District's school construction agency.

The most dramatic move was a proposal to cut more than 84 percent from the budget of deputy mayor for education Victor Reinoso, from $4 million to $778,000. His staff would shrink from 21 to seven.

Gray has long been unhappy with Reinoso, whose portfolio includes oversight of the school construction agency, reuse of surplus school buildings and the coordination of social services in schools.

In recent public hearings, Reinoso has come under attack from Gray, who charged that he has failed to create a coherent vision for his office and has been unresponsive to the council.

The cuts would disperse many of his responsibilities to D.C. public schools and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

Gray denied that he wanted to marginalize Reinoso because of tensions with Fenty over everything from baseball tickets to education policy.

"The reality is, I don't think he functions very well," Gray said. "I don't think there has been any value added. This has nothing to do with the last two or three weeks. It has to do with my observations over the last two years."

Spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said Fenty would have no comment until the markup is complete. Reinoso did not respond to requests for comment.

Gray, chairman of the council's committee of the whole that oversees education, also removed the 50 percent cut Fenty recommended in funding for the D.C. State Board of Education, the elected body that has no day-to-day authority over schools but sets academic standards and evaluates the effectiveness of school system policies.

The board needs more autonomy, with added staff and resources to fulfill its responsibilities, the committee said in its report.

On May 12, the D.C. Council will hold its first reading on Mayor Adrian Fenty's budget. Every public service provider has been concerned about likely cuts after the city government announced it had a shortfall of some $800 million. But in education, the mayor's cuts had a nasty twist. D.C. public charter schools — which educate about 33 percent of D.C. children — were singled out for 100 percent of the mayor's education cuts.

The mayor's attitude contrasts sharply with that of President Barack Obama, who has now visited two District public charter schools — Capital City in Northwest and the SEED School in Southeast — and praised their achievements. The mayor's approach also contrasts with D.C. parents: Student enrollment in D.C. charters was up 17 percent last school year. Meanwhile, student enrollment in the mayoral-run schools fell by 9 percent.

The mayor has targeted charters' facilities allowance — which public charter schools use to lease, buy and renovate buildings — with a $24 million cut, while also proposing a $13 million increase in school building funds for the cityrun schools. This will make school building funding per charter student $2,341, less than half the $5,829 school building funding per student in the city-run schools.

Current readers will know that the D.C. government is entertaining bids from condo and office developers on 11 former public school buildings, including the Stevens and Grimke buildings in Northwest. This is despite the fact that D.C. law says that the charters have the right to negotiate to buy or lease surplus D.C. public school buildings before deep-pocketed commercial real estate developers can offer the city millions for them.

Thanks to the administration's intransigence over facilities for charters, many are forced to occupy often-inadequate space in nonschool buildings. Many charters are housed in commercial, retail or warehouse space and church annexes and basements and have had to take out expensive bank loans to renovate and acquire high-priced commercial real estate.

The net result of successive administrations blocking charters from acquiring appropriate facilities is that non-residential public charter schools (two charters are boarding schools: one in Northeast and one in Southeast) have less than half the square footage per student of the city's traditional public schools.

Despite these challenges, middle and high school students from low-income families in D.C. public charter schools are almost twice as likely to be proficient in reading and math as their peers in city-run neighborhood schools. Their parents oppose the mayor's unfair and discriminatory education cuts. Will members of the D.C. Council?

Robert Cane
Executive director, Friends of
Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS)

The D.C. City Council votes on Mayor Fenty's budget just three days before the 55th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark civil rights decision, Brown v. Board of Education. How are these two events related? Both have implications for closing what educators call the "student achievement gap"— the difference in academic performance between Black and White students in public schools.

This historic civil rights anniversary and the looming Council vote both matter to me. I was the chief usher at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King and was a student representative on the board of Morehouse College when King served there. I am Chairman of Friendship Public Charter School, which educates nearly 4,000 students in Northeast and Southeast D.C.

Public charter schools are unique public schools, which— like the neighborhood schools run by the Mayor—cannot charge tuition and are open to all D.C. children without interviews or entrance exams. Unlike the schools run by the Mayor, however, charters have the freedom to design education programs to suit the needs of their students and to set other school policies, from discipline to attendance, independently of the D.C. government bureaucracy.

The freedoms charters enjoy are balanced by responsibilities to parents—charters are funded based on how many students they enroll—and to the D.C. Public Charter School Board, which holds school leaders to a high standard, replacing school leaders if necessary.

This unique mix of freedom and responsibility has allowed these special public schools to flourish. Increasingly popular with parents, D.C. public charter schools have higher shares of African-American children than the city-run public schools. And they are ahead of the curve in closing the achievement gap. Black middle and high school students are almost twice as likely to be proficient in reading and math as their peers in city-run neighborhood schools.

Despite this important step toward fulfilling the promise of the civil rights movement, the Mayor proposed to the Council that D.C. public charter schools, which educate about 33 percent of D.C. children, take 100 percent of his education cuts. The Council has now reversed 70 percent of this cut, leaving charters with $7.3 million less to buy, lease and renovate school buildings compared to last year.

Sadly, although a big improvement on the Mayor's unfair education cut, this $309 per student cut will add to the discrimination against charters that already exists. After the budget cut, school building funding for each public charter school child will be $2,800 compared to $5,829 per student in the city-run schools. Worse, as Councilmember Barry pointed out at the Council's budget press conference, the city government has almost always denied charters the right to buy or lease public school buildings that the city-run schools no longer have the students to fill.

Charter school children are being kept out of surplus public school buildings despite the fact that D.C. law and simple humanity say charters should be able to negotiate with the city before luxury condo and commercial developers can. Meanwhile, many charters are housed in warehouses, retail or office space and church annexes and basements. And children in nonresidential D.C. public charter schools have less than half the square footage per student as their peers in the city-run schools.

Despite being underserved for school buildings, high school graduation rates in D.C. public charter schools are 24 percent higher than in D.C.'s regular public schools. And teens in charter schools lose half as many days to student absenteeism as teens in city-run neighborhood schools.

The good news is that at the budget hearing Council Chair Vincent Gray noted that the traditional public schools, which the Mayor controls, are double funded for facilities compared to charters. Gray also said that he is open to charters' request that certified public accountants study and report on how to achieve equal funding for all D.C. public schools.

The bad news is that the Mayor has included yet another attack on D.C. public charter schools in the budget, this time trying to undermine their independence by making them adopt the policies that his appointees make for the schools he runs, messing with charters' success.

CHARTER SCHOOL official Julie S. Doar-Sinkfield wishes she could be happier about the D.C. Council's bid to restore facilities funding for charters. After all, the council is proposing that all but 30 percent of a cut suggested by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) be reinstated. Nonetheless, Ms. Doar-Sinkfield knows that her school for the performing arts won't be able to accept as many students as had been hoped and that plans for new theater space will have to be put on hold. Students who attend public charter schools continue to get the short end of the funding stick from a city government not entirely comfortable with charter schools' growth.

At issue is how much charter schools, which have no guarantee of public space, should be given to acquire their facilities. Mr. Fenty proposed eliminating the current $3,109-per-student funding formula and requiring schools to submit "allowable costs." Thankfully, the council's proposal would nix that and restore $16.7 million of the mayor's $24 million cut. Despite the council's good intentions, that still amounts to a reduction of $309 per student. Schools that have borrowed money based on the current formula may encounter problems with their lenders. Some may have to shift resources from programs to make up the gap. As Ms. Doar-Sinkfield told us, $309 may seem a small sum, but such a per-student loss can be significant for a school such as the William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts.

Without doubt, economic times are tough, and the city must cut its budget when revenue is declining. What's bothersome, though, is the disparate treatment of students in the charter schools and those in other public schools when it comes to facilities. The refusal of city officials to give charters access to unused school buildings has forced those schools into often-inadequate warehouses, retail spaces or church basements. Many have had to take out costly loans to buy or lease commercial property. Nonresidential public charter schools have less than half the square footage per student that other public schools have. And if the council proposal is adopted, charter advocates estimate, building funding for each charter school student ($2,800) will be less than half that for other District students ($5,829).

No one is suggesting that money be taken away from the regular public schools. It is important that the reform efforts started by Mr. Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee be sustained. But charter schools are public schools, too. They have offered a choice to thousands of D.C. children; they deserve the same level of commitment from the city.

$3,109 OR FIGHT—WaPo ed board wants more, more, more from the D.C. Council in per-pupil charter facilities funding. ‘Students who attend public charter schools continue to get the short end of the funding stick from a city government not entirely comfortable with charter schools' growth….Without doubt, economic times are tough, and the city must cut its budget when revenue is declining. What's bothersome, though, is the disparate treatment of students in the charter schools and those in other public schools when it comes to facilities….[C]harter schools are public schools, too. They have offered a choice to thousands of D.C. children; they deserve the same level of commitment from the city.' Also Informer op-ed.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council is scheduled to hold its first vote on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's budget proposal. Council members are being lobbied hard by the D.C. public charter school community to strike a number of provisions in the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Support Act that supporters say threaten these unique public schools' autonomy from the D.C. government.

The mayor wants to make his appointees the regulators for the charter schools, a role currently performed by the D.C. Public Charter School Board. Vacancies on the board are filled by the mayor from a list of names drawn up by the U.S. secretary of education. The board has the power to award, review and revoke the schools' charters and to hold them accountable for academic results and sound financial management.

Part of the District's public-education scene since the D.C. School Reform Act took effect in 1996, public charter schools now educate 36 percent of public school children in the District. These taxpayer-funded nonprofit institutions are free to determine their own education programs but cannot screen or select their students. They must also follow civil rights, special-education and health-and-safety laws, and they are subject to the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Oversubscribed charters must hold lotteries, and every year, thousands of disappointed parents whose children attend traditional public schools place their children on waiting lists for these popular public schools.

Former council member Kevin P. Chavous, who served as Education Committee chairman, is concerned that the mayor's proposals would undermine what he regards as the essential ingredient for charters' success: their independence from the city government.

"The mayor should resist the temptation to overregulate public charter schools," Mr. Chavous said. "Charters work, in large part, because they have autonomy. Parents have warmed to charters because accountability lines are clear and their children are learning."

Mr. Chavous fears that charters will be drawn into the centralized control that has been the fate of traditional D.C. public schools, and which he thinks has not worked.

"If we impose too many unnecessary regulatory requirements on our charter schools, many will, like their traditional public school counterparts, spend more time trying to adhere to rules than teaching our kids," said Mr. Chavous, author of "Serving Our Children, Charter Schools and the Reform of American Public Education."

Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, a nonprofit resource and advocacy group for D.C. public charter schools, argues that it is charters' autonomy from the city government that is the linchpin of their success. Said Mr. Cane: "Free to determine their own educational programs and school policies, D.C. public charter schools are ahead of the curve when it comes to closing the student achievement gap between black and white students.

"We know that African-American middle and high school students in D.C. public charter schools are nearly twice as likely to be proficient in reading and math as their peers in the regular public schools run by the mayor," he said. "Teen absenteeism in D.C.'s charters is less than 50 percent of the rate in the city-run neighborhood schools, and charters' high school graduation rate is 24 percent higher than the city-run schools."

Mr. Cane argues that the Public Charter School Board has looked out for children's and parents' interests in a way that the mayor and the schools chancellor have only just begun to do for the traditional public schools. Since the Public Charter School Board assumed responsibility for regulating charters in 1998, it has rejected two of every three applications to open a public charter school and has closed nine schools that did not measure up to the board's performance standards.

The council can decide to strike the mayor's proposal from the Budget Support Act before it votes on Tuesday. Council members also can offer amendments to strike the provisions prior to the vote on Tuesday.

In the meantime, council members can expect to continue to hear from the supporters of these increasingly popular public schools.

Three charter schools are eyeing the historic Franklin School building at 13th and K streets NW, which shut down as a homeless shelter last fall. Built in 1869, the three-and-a-half-story building has had many lives. It housed the city's first high school starting in 1880, and later, for 40 years, the administrative offices of the District's public school system. Most recently, the building functioned for six years as a shelter for homeless men. It has sat vacant since September.

The city invited proposals for the Franklin building last month, adhering to a District law that gives charter schools the "right of first refusal" on former school buildings. Charter school advocates have been watching the government carefully when it comes to this law, after observing instances in the past when the city has not followed it.

Among those interested in the Franklin building is the Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School, a Chinese immersion school that needs to find a new home before the lease for its Brookland building expires in 2011. The school, which opened last fall for pre-kindergarten through second grade, plans to expand incrementally over the years, with the eventual goal of offering classes through eighth grade.

The Franklin location is appealing in part because of its proximity to Chinatown, said Yu Ying executive director Mary Shaffner. "We've always wanted to be downtown, so we can be close to educational opportunities in the area," she said. The building also makes sense, Shaffner pointed out, since it was originally designed as a school. Moving in would require some renovations, but "it's not like we'd be turning it from a farm into a school," she said.

Sean Madigan, spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, said three charter schools are interested in the site, but he declined to specify the applicants, citing the city's practice in similar instances. Yu Ying has gone public with its proposal, presenting its plans at the Logan Circle advisory neighborhood commission's May 6 meeting.

Madigan said Monday that the city is currently looking over the proposals and will "have a much better idea in the next couple of weeks as far as what our next steps will be." He said it's possible the city could reject all three proposals if they're unfeasible and put out a new request for proposals.

"I'd be surprised, pleasantly, if a charter school ended up in that building," said Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools. Though the city "is now alert to the need to offer it to public charter schools, it's not at all clear whether they will...follow through with that," he said.

Some homeless advocates are still angry that the shelter that operated out of Franklin was shut down in the first place. Mayor Adrian Fenty ordered it closed last fall, in line with the city's new approach toward homelessness, an initiative called Housing First.

Members of the District of Columbia Council are considering Mayor Adrian Fenty's budget. In the budget he presented to the Council, the Mayor determined that charters, which educate 33% of D.C. students, should take 100% of his education cuts.

Lobbied by D.C.'s public charter schools—publicly funded nonprofit institutions independent of the city government bureaucracy—Council Members agreed to reverse 70% of the Mayor's anti-charter cuts.

But the Mayor's move against D.C.'s only proven school reform to date didn't end there. The Mayor also included legislation in his budget that would remove the autonomy from city government control that has allowed charters to thrive

Now the Mayor wants his political appointees to become regulators for D.C.'s public charter schools. Currently, D.C.'s Public Charter School Board judiciously exercises its power to review and sometimes to revoke schools' charters to operate.

Since 1998, the board has been doing what the Chancellor for the city-run schools has only just begun: holding schools to high standards and replacing ineffective school leadership when necessary.

The Mayor wants to control charters and to have the power to withhold their funds if they don't follow his rules. Yet it is precisely charters' independence from centralized control that has enabled school leaders and teachers to innovate to provide the best educational programs, get parents more involved and provide students the structure they need to learn.

The Mayor's attitude to D.C. public charter schools is not justified by the schools' performance. D.C. public charter schools are way ahead of regular public schools in closing the achievement gap between black and white students.

African-American middle and high school students in D.C. public charter schools are nearly twice as likely to be proficient in reading and math as their peers in the regular public schools run by the Mayor.

D.C. public charter schools are excelling in more ways than student proficiency. Students in D.C.'s public charter schools are safer from the violence that plagues so many Northeast and Southeast D.C. communities. Teen absenteeism in D.C.'s charters is less than 50% of the rate in the city-run neighborhood schools and charters' high school graduation rate is 24% higher than the city-run schools.

The Mayor's indifference to these facts is all the more remarkable when one considers that charters produce superior results with less money from the public purse than the schools the Mayor controls.

The Mayor's budget cut is to the charters' facilities allowance, which charters use to buy or lease and renovate buildings in which to educate their students. But even after the Council's decision to partially restore the Mayor's anti-charter cuts, school building funding per public charter school student will be less than half the amount provided for students in schools run by the Mayor.

The Mayor has a history of making life difficult for D.C.'s public charter schools. D.C. law requires the city government to negotiate with public charter schools when disposing of school buildings no longer required for the city-run schools, whose enrollment has been falling for decades.

But the Mayor has frustrated their efforts at almost every turn. Many of these precious public assets will be handed over to multi-million dollar luxury condo and high-end office developers.

Thanks to this anti-charter discrimination, many charters produce their superior educational results in inadequate former warehouse, office or retail space and church annexes and basements. Non-residential public charter schools—two D.C. charters are boarding schools—have half the square footage per student as public schools controlled by the Mayor.

This D.C. school reform is working. And the signs are that the Council will protect these special public schools' autonomy, the linchpin of their success.

Robert Cane is executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools.

Michael Neibauer is correct that the D.C. Council restored $16.7 million of Mayor Adrian Fenty's proposed cuts to D.C. public charter schools, but he missed a vital point: The mayor proposed to cut charter funding by $24 million. The council reversed 70 percent of the mayor's cuts.

Moreover, Mayor Fenty thought it appropriate that charters, which educate 33 percent of D.C. children, should take 100 percent of his education cuts.

The council subsequently set aside $27.5 million from the budget for the regular public schools, which are run by the mayor, and told his school chancellor that these funds would be available provided that D.C. Public Schools enrollment meets the mayor's projections.

Council Chairman Vincent Gray doubts this will occur, given that charters' enrollment rose almost 6,000 from 2006 to 2008 while enrollment in the city-run schools declined almost 7,500.

Robert Cane
Executive Director
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools