Gray Proposes Reallocation of $100MM of DCPS Capital Modernization Funds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you go to all the trouble, you should make sure that this isn't just to reallocate FY 2014 funds. As an example, I don't think DCI is ready to spend yet, i.e., Walter Reed is not finalized, and may not until FY 2015 (October of this year). So they may be moving funds to where they can be spent this fiscal year.

Emma Brown does not truly research her articles, she just quotes and puts whatever DCPS sends out into her articles. Where's the context? What does it all mean? Bad reporting.

In looking at the lists, you can see that some of the reductions are because the projects are over and there are small amounts left. This is not a true "reduction." The DCI decision is because they can't grant the funds to DCI as a non-profit non governmental entity. So DCI will have to figure out a way to get a governmental entity to accept the funds on their behalf. A bureaucratic problem and incredibly annoying, but they can figure it out.

Garrison is getting pushed back to summer of 2015, pushing the renovations back a year. A bummer for the Garrison parents but some schools have been waiting for 2 decades.

Yes. This is reprogramming of funds that weren't going to get spent fully before October. Not the regular annual budget process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you go to all the trouble, you should make sure that this isn't just to reallocate FY 2014 funds. As an example, I don't think DCI is ready to spend yet, i.e., Walter Reed is not finalized, and may not until FY 2015 (October of this year). So they may be moving funds to where they can be spent this fiscal year.

Emma Brown does not truly research her articles, she just quotes and puts whatever DCPS sends out into her articles. Where's the context? What does it all mean? Bad reporting.

In looking at the lists, you can see that some of the reductions are because the projects are over and there are small amounts left. This is not a true "reduction." The DCI decision is because they can't grant the funds to DCI as a non-profit non governmental entity. So DCI will have to figure out a way to get a governmental entity to accept the funds on their behalf. A bureaucratic problem and incredibly annoying, but they can figure it out.

Garrison is getting pushed back to summer of 2015, pushing the renovations back a year. A bummer for the Garrison parents but some schools have been waiting for 2 decades.

They have been promising renovations at Garrison for years. Waiting decades? Have you seen Garrison?

[Anonymous]

DME doesn't have a strategic plan or a rational plan as to which schools gets renovations. They do as they please. David Catania pointed this out a few weeks ago. It's really frustrating. At my DS DCPS school we are fighting for renovations, but I don't think we will get far. We have valid reasons but so does everyone else.

[Anonymous]

And this was funding promised to Garrison for a couple years now. The modernization was set to start in June (so not a "not fully spent before October" situation). This is pulling the plug at the last minute.

[GarrisonPTA]

It's me, Ann McLeod, Garrison PTA President. If I may, I am going to respond to a few items here:

1. Emma Brown, the Post report, was doing her job - reporting breaking NEWS. We would not have found out about this if it were not for her. Personally I am quite grateful. There is a link to the letter that the Mayor sent to the council asking for the reallocation of funds, but for ease, here is a link to the letter. Is it her job to find out why the Mayor made these choices? Certainly we hope that that can be found out but surely getting that answer is near impossible. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1026524/mayor-vincent-c-grays-capital-funds.pdf

2. TO the poster who said "Why do people believe they should get something from reprogramming - redirecting funds from unspent categories - during the next 6 months rather than as part of the regular budget process and capital improvement plan? I don't get the perspective that anyone was "robbed" here."

We specifically ARE being robbed. Garrison's Phase I modernization is scheduled for this summer - this is the way all phased modernizations work. This has been scheduled for years; same as other schools who are on the "loser" list. We have had many meetings about this, architects have already worked on plans, etc. So, yes, the Mayor is asking that the funds that are "unspent" but the funds have already been set-aside for Garrison via AN APPROVED BUDGET, are now requested to be moved to cover the shortfall for other projects.

3. No where in the document does it say when the modernization will now take place. It just says that it will be in a future fiscal year.

4. One poster said "A bummer for the Garrison parents but some schools have been waiting for 2 decades." So, you think we don't deserve to be modernized now?? Our school has not been renovated since it was built in 1964!! We've been waiting 5 decades, not 2 decades. To say one school is more deserving than another is absurd. The crappy thing about all of this is that the Mayor is pitting one school against another, one neighborhood against another, etc.

Clearly we are not the only school affected and not the only community that is reeling from this news. In a city where we had a budget surplus of over $400 million, there is no reason that these choices have to be made.

Personally, what angers me so much about all of this is that there is no explanation as to WHY the choices were made - no strategic reasons, no "OK folks, we need to do this but we guarantee you'll be in the next fiscal year and you'll get a full modernization so you are guaranteed that future renovations will not be rescheduled like this one has." (Of course, it has been proven over and over again that we cannot trust what is said anyway, so why would we believe that?) There is NO plan.

As always, we thank everyone out there who has been supporting Garrison for their continued support and ask you to write to your Council Member and Mayor Gray expressing your opinion on all of this.

[Anonymous]

GarrisonPTA wrote:there is no explanation as to WHY the choices were made - no strategic reasons, no "OK folks, we need to do this but we guarantee you'll be in the next fiscal year and you'll get a full modernization so you are guaranteed that future renovations will not be rescheduled like this one has." (Of course, it has been proven over and over again that we cannot trust what is said anyway, so why would we believe that?) There is NO plan.

Exactly. It's kind of amazing how there have been all of these feasibility studies, and reviews of facilities, and yet there is no rational system to decide how these buildings are renovated, how they are surplused, etc. There needs to be at least some predictability in the process, with the understanding that sometimes things change based on unusual circumstances. Something like this:

1. If a school is determined to have renovation needs more than x% of the DC average, it will get renovated
2. If a school has significantly rising enrollment beyond the capacity of x%, it will get expanded
3. If a school has had declining enrollment for x years and is below xx% capacity it will be closed

There are ways to figure out how much money you have to spend on your capital budget, how much it is going to cost to renovate/expand each school, and start to make priorities based all of this. This is how the professionals inside the government are supposed to be able to do their jobs. One benefit for the politicians is that it actually gives them cover when there are unpopular decisions- "Hey, here's how we allocate our funds. I can't be going out willy-nilly breaking that system because it is fair and impartial, etc." Now it's just a mish-mash of neighborhoods and schools and alumni "advocating" for their upgrades, when really they should be able to concentrate solely on education.

[Anonymous]

I drive by Banneker all the time on my way to work and think to myself, "Man that schools needs updating." My kids are in early elementary so I haven't focused on high school yet. But curious why Banneker isn't showing up anywhere on the winners or losers list. Is that because it's getting updated soon and nothing is changing with its funding (i hope)?

[Anonymous]

GarrisonPTA wrote:
Personally, what angers me so much about all of this is that there is no explanation as to WHY the choices were made - no strategic reasons, no "OK folks, we need to do this but we guarantee you'll be in the next fiscal year and you'll get a full modernization so you are guaranteed that future renovations will not be rescheduled like this one has." (Of course, it has been proven over and over again that we cannot trust what is said anyway, so why would we believe that?) There is NO plan.

It looks to me like Gray and his team are so used to making decisions based on self-serving politics rather than strategy and the greater good, that they forgot/didn't bother to make something up. Oops.

[Anonymous]

"4. One poster said "A bummer for the Garrison parents but some schools have been waiting for 2 decades." So, you think we don't deserve to be modernized now?? Our school has not been renovated since it was built in 1964!! We've been waiting 5 decades, not 2 decades. To say one school is more deserving than another is absurd. The crappy thing about all of this is that the Mayor is pitting one school against another, one neighborhood against another, etc."

You may have been blindsided by the lack of transparency in the process, but this certainly isn't a wining argument. Most schools waiting to be rennovated are older than yours, are in really poor condition, and are also not handicapped accessible. And yes, someone does need to pick and chose what schools go first - there is not enough resources (not just $, but personnel) to manage rennovations across the whole city at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"4. One poster said "A bummer for the Garrison parents but some schools have been waiting for 2 decades." So, you think we don't deserve to be modernized now?? Our school has not been renovated since it was built in 1964!! We've been waiting 5 decades, not 2 decades. To say one school is more deserving than another is absurd. The crappy thing about all of this is that the Mayor is pitting one school against another, one neighborhood against another, etc."

You may have been blindsided by the lack of transparency in the process, but this certainly isn't a wining argument. Most schools waiting to be rennovated are older than yours, are in really poor condition, and are also not handicapped accessible. And yes, someone does need to pick and chose what schools go first - there is not enough resources (not just $, but personnel) to manage rennovations across the whole city at once.

Right, but I'm not sure it's necessary to keep throwing money at 1/2 full schools (roosevelt) and even overfull schools that have already received more than their fair share of funding (Janney). As Anne mentioned above, let's not turn this into a situation where schools are pitted against one another, because that could easily happen and lots of fair arguments could be made (see my previous sentence). The focus should be on the mind numbing piss poor planning and the lack of explanation when planning is announced.

[Anonymous]

GarrisonPTA wrote:It's me, Ann McLeod, Garrison PTA President. If I may, I am going to respond to a few items here:
…
2. TO the poster who said "Why do people believe they should get something from reprogramming - redirecting funds from unspent categories - during the next 6 months rather than as part of the regular budget process and capital improvement plan? I don't get the perspective that anyone was "robbed" here."

We specifically ARE being robbed. Garrison's Phase I modernization is scheduled for this summer - this is the way all phased modernizations work. This has been scheduled for years; same as other schools who are on the "loser" list. We have had many meetings about this, architects have already worked on plans, etc. So, yes, the Mayor is asking that the funds that are "unspent" but the funds have already been set-aside for Garrison via AN APPROVED BUDGET, are now requested to be moved to cover the shortfall for other projects.

3. No where in the document does it say when the modernization will now take place. It just says that it will be in a future fiscal year.
…

Personally, what angers me so much about all of this is that there is no explanation as to WHY the choices were made - no strategic reasons, no "OK folks, we need to do this but we guarantee you'll be in the next fiscal year and you'll get a full modernization so you are guaranteed that future renovations will not be rescheduled like this one has." (Of course, it has been proven over and over again that we cannot trust what is said anyway, so why would we believe that?) There is NO plan.
…

Hi I am the person who wondered how Garrison was "robbed" and the distinction between budgeted funds and seeking reprogramming is important and it’s good that you clarified that.
I think something you really need at this point is DGS and the Mayor’s budget office’s estimate of how much it will cost for them to move ahead with the project.
• If you were to receive $6.1 million, would you be unable to get a summer start? If that is the case, the Mayor’s office and DGS need to be up front about that.
• Is there a threshold to get facility renovation at Garrison started?
• How much is the minimum for a summer start to get you to October?
What you need to do is try to get a meeting with Brian Hanlon and your PTA leadership along with the Mayor’s capital budget staff. SIT team doesn’t cut it, as no one that matters in the funding actually will be there.
On fighting this reprogramming, you have a tough road. You’ll be derailing everyone else who needs money this year if you decide you want to fight, and you need a lot of Council allies without interest in supporting their own constituents, which is going to be hard to find.
My advice would be – see if a supplemental reprogramming can be done for summer starts and get the remainder of your funding in the FY15 budget. I might even ask for an acceleration to get the funds to fully complete the modernization on the schedule set in the CIP. I think if you do that, you’re bound to succeed.
If you try to blow up the reprogramming you’re likely to fail with the Council. The reprogramming as it is has supporters on the Council. Others from other schools with immediate and greater needs will fight you (I grant you for your purposes your need is great, etc., etc., vent if you need to…). Inter-PTA bloodletting is needless. In fact, other parents would probably support you if you went this route. Could discuss offline.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a Garrison parent, but I'm angry on their behalf. If the Mayor is going to redirect funds, he should be clear as to why there are a new set of winners and losers. When he doesn't back his decisions with any objective criteria, it reeks of political favoritism, especially in an election year.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the support! We are going to need it.

[GarrisonPTA]

TO 10:47, thanks for the advice. Please feel free to email me at [e-mail]

Actually, we already thought of this...saying something along the lines of "OK, we'll go to 2015 if you get us the full modernization we want" BUT...time and time again it has been proven that schedules and promises mean nothing. But certainly it is worth having a meeting with the powers that be to discuss.

I most certainly don't want to fight with other schools over the money. All the schools deserve to get what they were promised.

[Anonymous]

So excited for Powell and glad I made this my first lottery pick last year!