Charter school funding gap in FY27 budget

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An unpopular opinion for DCUM- if the charters were properly funded the better ones would blow DCPS out of the water. So many struggle under the costs of facilities and teacher turn over from low salaries. If Charters had money to solve those problems the middling to good ones could be amazing.

+1 on this.

Also, Coolidge has a lot larger and better facilities than DCI which holds around the same number of high schoolers. Sports facilities in particular. DCI could have used the space next to it for a much-needed sports field, but townhouses are going up instead. Now the school is battling neighbors to try to use a nearby park for athletics. The charter schools can't just easily move and buy new buildings left and right, and they aren't provided with enough funds to truly utilize public and DC-owned space like Walter Reed. Meanwhile, there is no way that DCPS could serve all the kids currently in charters - if all of DCI changed to Coolidge overnight, for example.

DCI is approximately the same square footage as Anacostia High School, except DCI has 1,700 students and Anacostia has 250, and Anacostia High School is much, much nicer.

https://washingtonian.com/2014/02/03/anacostia-high-school-renovation-snags-design-award/

Right, this is a good illustration. The Coolidge comparison was simply meant to illustrate the same point in a nearby location.

Charter schools should not be defunded and indeed should be helped to better facilities when they outperform and outenroll.

The city spent $130 million building a pool at Roosevelt High School, a school with one of the lowest take-up rates among in-boundary children in the city. The entire annual budget of DCI is about $45 million.

That pool can also be used by all city residents including charter school students. What's your point?

Pool is also used for the 3rd grade PE swimming classes for many elementary schools including the one my child attends.

Do they let charter schools use the pool?

I'm not sure... I don't think so, but I don't see why it would be impossible to work out an agreement if both schools wanted to. This says the first charter swim meet was in February of this year and it was at Howard. https://latinpcs.org/2026/02/athletic-spotlight-washington-latin-swimmers/

I'm not really up on the high school swimming scene, but I can see they did have some DCPS-wide meets at Roosevelt earlier this year. At Woodson and Dunbar too. https://octo.quickbase.com/db/bmkzp3u5e?a=dbpage&pageID=13 I know they let other DCPS schools use it for practice too. For example Hardy https://www.hardyms.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=829226&id=0. I'm just googling this but I see Dorothy Height elementary kids also had lessons there.

Anyway, the point is, a high school may have a pool but the *use* of the pool isn't just for kids attending that high school. It's for other schools and for the public as well. This kind of sharing makes it hard to say precisely how much DCPS is truly spending on one individual school.

Kind of hilarious to build an Olympic-caliber school in a high school, plaster the school's name and mascot all over it, and then claim it's not really for that school because other people are also allowed to use it during extremely limited off hours. Disingenuous much?

I don't think it is at all. 35 hours a week for the general public is not "extremely limited". It's mainly for Roosevelt, but also for meets and for the other schools that practice there, and for the public, so I don't think the full cost of building and operating it should be ascribed to Roosevelt alone. My broader point is that DCPS has various ways of sharing resources among schools and across city agencies and the public, and that makes it hard to do a rigorous cost assessment for any one school.

I suppose you could call the pool by a different name but that would be confusing when it's part of the school building.

Have they allowed any charter school to practice there?

I'm not sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS not having to factor in facilities costs inside of their budget is like MPD not having to factor in millions of dollars of overtime into theirs. We need more budget discipline as a city. I would rather reign in costs for DCPS in order to be able to afford other programs like Medicaid and the early childhood pay equity fund.

Yeah this. Whereas a BASIS or Latin has to consider their entire budget and maybe that's why they have things like onsite tutoring instead of a fancy building.

[Anonymous]

I agree. Electricity bills should not be some huge out-of-budget expense. Give everyone the 2.5% increase if that’s what the city can afford, and budget salaries, bills, and other expenses within that. Spend the extra money on other threatened programs outside of DCPS.

[Anonymous]

This is coming up in the mayoral race, with both front runners taking the same position (“ all funding for DCPS and charters should be funneled through the Uniform Per-Pupil Funding Formula, instead of some of it going through other channels”); obviously lots of daylight between what is said during campaigning and what happens in reality, but interesting https://bsky.app/profile/maustermuhle.bsky.social/post/3mkvj6umlrk24

[Anonymous]

Sure, but once the money is moved, it won’t move back. And the money is getting moved under the current mayor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An unpopular opinion for DCUM- if the charters were properly funded the better ones would blow DCPS out of the water. So many struggle under the costs of facilities and teacher turn over from low salaries. If Charters had money to solve those problems the middling to good ones could be amazing.

+1 on this.

Also, Coolidge has a lot larger and better facilities than DCI which holds around the same number of high schoolers. Sports facilities in particular. DCI could have used the space next to it for a much-needed sports field, but townhouses are going up instead. Now the school is battling neighbors to try to use a nearby park for athletics. The charter schools can't just easily move and buy new buildings left and right, and they aren't provided with enough funds to truly utilize public and DC-owned space like Walter Reed. Meanwhile, there is no way that DCPS could serve all the kids currently in charters - if all of DCI changed to Coolidge overnight, for example.

DCI is approximately the same square footage as Anacostia High School, except DCI has 1,700 students and Anacostia has 250, and Anacostia High School is much, much nicer.

https://washingtonian.com/2014/02/03/anacostia-high-school-renovation-snags-design-award/

This is kinda bonkers. Anacostia High School is 247,000 square feet. That's much, much, MUCH bigger than a Walmart. How do 250 kids occupy 247,000 square feet?

Seriously WTF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

Except when one market chooses to match the other. Then they are literally "THE SAME".

AI slop for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

Except when one market chooses to match the other. Then they are literally "THE SAME".

AI slop for sure.

So the charter schools have collectively chosen to match DCPS salaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

Except when one market chooses to match the other. Then they are literally "THE SAME".

AI slop for sure.

So the charter schools have collectively chosen to match DCPS salaries?

Tell me you don't have a clue how charters work without telling me.

There is no "collective" Every charter school (or group of charters) is its own LEA. DCPS is an LEA. Each LEA operates independently, making budget and salary determinations as its own LEA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

Except when one market chooses to match the other. Then they are literally "THE SAME".

AI slop for sure.

So the charter schools have collectively chosen to match DCPS salaries?

Tell me you don't have a clue how charters work without telling me.

There is no "collective" Every charter school (or group of charters) is its own LEA. DCPS is an LEA. Each LEA operates independently, making budget and salary determinations as its own LEA.

I'm the immediate PP. You're expressing frustration with the wrong person. It was the PP who I posed my question to that is confused.

She thinks that charter school teachers should get the same pay what the WTU negotiates for DCPS teachers because it is all one big DC budget.

But you can't just "match" salaries without matching the work conditions and requirements. And then a charter school would no longer be exercising the freedom they have to not run the school the way they think is best.

The situation is very complex, which is why figuring out fair allocations between sectors is complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

Except when one market chooses to match the other. Then they are literally "THE SAME".

AI slop for sure.

So the charter schools have collectively chosen to match DCPS salaries?

Tell me you don't have a clue how charters work without telling me.

There is no "collective" Every charter school (or group of charters) is its own LEA. DCPS is an LEA. Each LEA operates independently, making budget and salary determinations as its own LEA.

I'm the immediate PP. You're expressing frustration with the wrong person. It was the PP who I posed my question to that is confused.

She thinks that charter school teachers should get the same pay what the WTU negotiates for DCPS teachers because it is all one big DC budget.

But you can't just "match" salaries without matching the work conditions and requirements. And then a charter school would no longer be exercising the freedom they have to not run the school the way they think is best.

The situation is very complex, which is why figuring out fair allocations between sectors is complicated.

* the freedom to *run* the school the way think think is best, to *not run* it just like DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument that the teacher's union bargained for their bonuses and the charter schools shouldn't benefit is not really a fair argument. The union bargained the bonuses, but not with council on the overall budget. The school system needs to account for those bonuses in their overall budget. The charter schools by law are to get equal funding. It doesn't matter if the teachers union bargained for a benefit. What matters is that the funding between DCPS and the charters schools is the same. If DCPS is giving bonuses, that is up to them. The charter schools should get the same increase by law and may opt to use it for bonuses, raises or something like a new HVAC.

So DCPS teacher should spend significant dues and time to negotiate a raise for the charter teachers?

That's not persuasive either.

You don't seem to understand how markets work. The prevailing rate is the prevailing rate, and it doesn't matter how it became the prevailing rate.

Er, I don't think you know what a market is. You are talking about city government allocating funds between different programs and departments. Budget allocation is *not* a market.

The rate/price/salary is what buyers and sellers agree to. And when sellers -- or buyers -- consolidate, they have more bargaining power.

Because of the existence of the teachers union, the market for public school teachers is cloven from the market for charter school teachers. Although the supply for new teachers for both markets draws from the same pool, the employers are operating under different market dynamics. Therefore, the prevailing market price in the 2 markets is not the same.

Except when one market chooses to match the other. Then they are literally "THE SAME".

AI slop for sure.

So the charter schools have collectively chosen to match DCPS salaries?

Tell me you don't have a clue how charters work without telling me.

There is no "collective" Every charter school (or group of charters) is its own LEA. DCPS is an LEA. Each LEA operates independently, making budget and salary determinations as its own LEA.

I'm the immediate PP. You're expressing frustration with the wrong person. It was the PP who I posed my question to that is confused.

She thinks that charter school teachers should get the same pay what the WTU negotiates for DCPS teachers because it is all one big DC budget.

But you can't just "match" salaries without matching the work conditions and requirements. And then a charter school would no longer be exercising the freedom they have to not run the school the way they think is best.

The situation is very complex, which is why figuring out fair allocations between sectors is complicated.

There was never any deal in which charters agreed to take less money in exchange for more freedom. Charters were set up by Congress to set a separate system because people believed DCPS wasn't doing its job. They're supposed to be equally funded.