How? They already have buildings. Just like DCPS. Do better. |
Some charters have bought or leased buildings in the past 20 years. Others are still expanding or plan to move. None are tied to properties they acquired 50 or 100 years ago. |
Oh stop. DCPS is building Taj Mahals. They spent almost $200 million on Duke Ellington, which has maybe 600 students. Meanwhile, there is no such thing as a fancy charter school in Washington D.C. |
+1 |
The Duke Ellington renovations were a complete abuse of taxpayers. We all should have been mad -- and we were. For anyone who missed it, here's a good, short article on the fiasco: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/taxpayers-pay-millions-for-over-budgeted-school-renovations/65-474821677 It's still not clear what mismanagement--and possibly graft--last decade has to do with funding schools now. So have any palaces been built in recent years? I haven't seen it. Banneker is looking great, but was not bonkers like Ellington. Seems like the process has been tightened up. Maybe somebody here can share details? |
Tightened up? DC is spreading the money far and wide (at least for DCPS) and thinks nothing of spending $100 million on a school with 500 kids. Duke Ellington -- $180 million Coolidge -- $160 million Jackson-Reid -- $130 million Dunbar -- $125 million Roosevelt -- $125 million Woodson -- $100 million Tubman -- $100 million Deal -- $100 million JO Wilson -- $91 million Cardozo -- $90 million Deal -- $90 million Ballou -- $90 million Jefferson -- $90 million Burrville -- $85 million Truesdell -- $80 million Oyster Adams -- $79 million Burroughs -- $75 million Janney -- $70 million MLK -- $65 million Dorothy Height -- $63 million Garfield -- $60.5 million Anacostia -- $60 million |
And that DCPS number doesn’t include ongoing operational costs or repairing an HVAC. Whereas, that all has to come out of the Charter facility allocation. |
The maga tactics are exhausting. You keep repeating this talking point but with skewed use of the data. When you attach years, school size, ES vs HS, and condition of prior building to the list, then we can have a well-founded conversation! Except for Coolidge, the biggest items on your list happened in the early and mid 2010s. Which $100 million dollar renovation for a 500 person school has happened since then? Let's talk specifics. I care about spending education money on students and teachers! But this "discussion" based on decade-old recycled outrage is annoying. |
You are a terrible (and egregious) liar. Here's a small sampling of the recent ground breakings and ribbon cuttings Bower has announced for these supposedly old projects: https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-dedicates-dorothy-i-height-elementary-school-ward-4-following-63-million https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-cuts-ribbon-829-million-truesdell-elementary-modernization-celebrates-first-day https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-breaks-ground-65-million-modernization-martin-luther-king-jr-elementary-ward-8 https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-celebrates-first-day-school-and-cuts-ribbon-modernized-oyster-adams-bilingual https://mayor.dc.gov/release/bowser-administration-breaks-ground-burroughs-elementary-school |
Bowser is absolutely obsessed with fancy school renovations. They make her developer donors happy, they create the illusion that she actually cares about education, and the lady loves a ribbon cutting photo op. |
I don't think it's just Bowser. We are ruled by social justice warriors who oppose raising academic standards in schools, who oppose creating gifted and talented programs, who oppose getting rid of teachers who are bad at their jobs. If you oppose all those things, but, as a politician on the city council, you need to somehow show your support for schools, what do you do? You support over-the-top renovations of school facilities (but not for charters, because every good social justice warrior, especially the ones living in Ward 3, knows charter schools are evil). |
Finally! Yes, these are worthy of discussion. Chop off the top half of your list, quit talking about Ellington and Dunbar, and focus on current projects! These deserve scrutiny. The MLK one sounds indulgent for the size. What was the building like before? |
Who are you talking about? As a teacher, I know we have been begging to RAISE standards and DCPS and the mayor laugh. And though I teach in DCPS in general yes charters are ‘evil.’ Funny how no other nation has to privatize PUBLIC education but the US and we are STILL doing poorly. However, the nuance is a little different in DC compared to places like Louisiana for example. I do not think DC charters are overall ‘evil.’ But to give them the exact same benefits would be unfair. My principal has to fight tooth and nail to NOT do some of the nutso anti-science things DCPS pushes, whereas a charters makes its own choices. They are by definition private public schools. I haven’t seen a decrepit charter school filled with mice/rats, if that’s incorrect feel free to name some. There are DCPS schools like Kramer MS filled with rodents. I hate going there for PD’s, in fact I skipped the last one it was so gross. FYI, if you speak on teachers make sure you get your facts straight. We can be fired at the drop of a hat. If there is a poor teacher it’s because they are friends or friendly with their boss. |
| I think the previous poster just proved the point that charters are being underfunded on purpose because people believe they simply deserve less. |
They DO -in terms of renovations
How about you prove they deserve the same? All you people are shouting is it’s unfair, but why is it unfair? I can say it’s unfair that all DCPS schools have to do mostly what dcps says. Charters can choose all their own curriculum, standardized tests, and even what kind of student they want. Yes they are eventually allowed to kick out students on the basis of not being able to serve them, DCPS cannot do this without data and then has to pay for private. Charters are getting equity. If you want equality make it so they have to follow DCPS rules and policies. |