Charter school funding gap in FY27 budget
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Anonymous
Yeah and how many charter schools have *aquatic centers* (which are extremely expensive to maintain)? |
Anonymous
NP who has a kid at Whittier. I think building this temporary school is a waste of resources. I commute to work every day. The school should have bussed to the swing space. |
Anonymous
No, these are base salaries that are fought and won by the Union. The evaluation system and bonuses were a Rhee thing, teachers can make way more than this with bonuses. Those bonuses are funded outside of the per pupil funding formula. I see the argument for charter schools here. Charters can’t afford to pay high salaries because they have to pay rent, don’t get the extra funding for bonuses, I don’t know what else. And now they have to use their per pupil funding formula for basic utilities, renovations, and facilities while DCPS spends it just on salaries that keep going higher and higher. Taxpayers have to fund the general fund in addition to the per pupil funding to pay for DCPS facilities, utilities, etc. Also, Early Stages does not serve charter students. Charter schools have to fund their early childhood special education programs through per pupil funding as well. https://www.earlystagesdc.org You need to understand how this works. Early Stages is a separate program run by DCPS. It evaluates kids aged 2-5 (ish) for special needs, if those kids are not currently enrolled in a DCPS or charter school. Qualifying children can receive services through this program even if they aren't old enough for PK3. Charters do not run any evaluations or do services for kids younger than school age that I'm aware of. That is why charters don't get funding to do this. I'm not sure this is still true, but it used to be that there are seats reserved in DCPS preschool classrooms for kids who have special needs and aren't old enough to start PK3. As soon as a qualifying child turns 3, they can potentially have one of those reserved seats, do a partial year of PK3, and then do a full year of PK3 with their age cohort. So basically it's a way to give kids a little extra preschool. Again, I'm not aware of any charters that do this. So when DCPS schools get money for doing this, it's different than the usual UPSFF special needs funding. Charters have to fund their early childhood programs through UPSFF for their own preschool students, yes, but they do NOT have to serve anyone who is not of proper PK3 age, and they do NOT have to give anyone more than 1 year of PK3. So that is why DCPS gets Early Stages funding-- because DCPS is doing things that charters don't do. |
Anonymous
https://www.earlystagesdc.org You need to understand how this works. Early Stages is a separate program run by DCPS. It evaluates kids aged 2-5 (ish) for special needs, if those kids are not currently enrolled in a DCPS or charter school. Qualifying children can receive services through this program even if they aren't old enough for PK3. Charters do not run any evaluations or do services for kids younger than school age that I'm aware of. That is why charters don't get funding to do this. I'm not sure this is still true, but it used to be that there are seats reserved in DCPS preschool classrooms for kids who have special needs and aren't old enough to start PK3. As soon as a qualifying child turns 3, they can potentially have one of those reserved seats, do a partial year of PK3, and then do a full year of PK3 with their age cohort. So basically it's a way to give kids a little extra preschool. Again, I'm not aware of any charters that do this. So when DCPS schools get money for doing this, it's different than the usual UPSFF special needs funding. Charters have to fund their early childhood programs through UPSFF for their own preschool students, yes, but they do NOT have to serve anyone who is not of proper PK3 age, and they do NOT have to give anyone more than 1 year of PK3. So that is why DCPS gets Early Stages funding-- because DCPS is doing things that charters don't do. Fixed quoting. |
Anonymous
Well.. one could argue being an art teacher in DCPS is significantly more stressful and emotionally demanding than being an art professor at Georgetown 🙃 |
Anonymous
Um. Yeah, there are a lot of schools and, at some point, they all need renovation. As I stated in the post you responded to, most renovations are very minimal on costs. A handful of schools have had fancy renovations that are hard to understand based on enrollment numbers. But most of the list above? Very necessary, thrifty renovations. |
Anonymous
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I see, I thought that was Strong Start. I agree then that Early Stages does need additional funding then for the additional roles they play, specifically evaluating kids who are not in DCPS and providing early PK.
Early Stages is the evaluator for preschool kids within DCPS though, and charters do have to pay for preschool evaluations through a portion of their per pupil funds. If Early Stages is partially funded by per pupil money and then gets extra funding for extra services, that is perfectly fair. I am not convinced about moving tens of millions of DCPS facilities funding outside of the per pupil formula though. |
Anonymous
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The idea was that charters wanted to be separate, to have autonomy, and were willing to give up certain economies of scale in order to do so. But it often feels like they want separateness when it serves them and not when it doesn't. And they can't have it both ways.
We'd save millions of dollars each year if we shut down a few low-performing charters. The kids could go to nearby schools that are not any worse. Then everyone can have a raise. It really, really grates on me that they are constantly hating on the WTU but when the WTU does all the work (and takes the political blowback) to obtain a pay increase, charters show up with their hands out. |
Anonymous
Other schools, including Maury and Coolidge, had temporary swing spaces built for them while their school was being renovated. Many of these schools need a multi-year renovation because they’re in such bad shape. Whittier has dealt with radiator pipes bursting in (thankfully empty!) classrooms. I don’t blame parents who don’t want to deal with DCPS bussing. Getting transportation for field trips is a nightmare. DCPS can’t even handle transportation for the SPED students who need it everyday. |
Anonymous
Honestly I'm fine with it. This stuff is maddeningly complex for a lay person and it's hard to understand what's "fair". But it's important to remember that DCPS schools don't have individual control over their locations. If their building is too big, they can't choose to move to something smaller or in a cheaper neighborhood like a charter can. If their building is old and in poor condition, they have to wait years for renovation and meanwhile put up with how difficult it is to get DGS to make any small improvements. Charters can decide locations and renovations according to their own needs, but DCPS makes those decisions at the Chancellor level based on the needs of the entire school system, not what's in the best interest of the school being renovated. And DCPS thinks in terms of long-term enrollment projections, like 10 or 20 or even 30 years in the future. Also, DCPS boundaries can change and schools don't have much control over it. So basically, DCPS building decision-making is not done by each school, it's driven by larger forces, and the current number of pupils at a DCPS school is only one factor among many. So to try and force it into a per-pupil funding model and pretend like each school gets to make their own choices doesn't really make sense for DCPS. If charters were willing to engage in long-term co-planning with DCPS and accept some loss of autonomy over enrollment choices, building capacity, and location, then maybe a different system would make sense for them too. |
Anonymous
This is all nonsense (and curiously maudlin). This was never "the idea." Charter schools were authorized by Congress because DCPS was seen as a failure. Congress wanted to give families in DC a choice between the two systems. People have been voting with their feet, and charters have been stealing market share from DCPS for decades. It's only a matter of time before most kids in this city go to charters, again because parents think it's the better option for their kids. Given that, it makes no sense for the city to actively discriminate against children whose families made a choice Congress said they were free to make. Obviously, all kids should have an equal educational opportunity. |
Anonymous
Yep and they can innovate as they please while DCPS schools have to beg to get outside of their box. |
Anonymous
Your argument makes no sense. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. Ultimately charters are businesses as well, raise money. Add more at risk students. A typical title 1 school has triple or more than MV. You are also free to choose a charter. No one is taking that right. There is no law to fund it exactly like DCPS because charters do not have to follow the same rules. |
Anonymous
Oh FFS, it is not "only a matter of time". And one reason for that is that the PCSB does NOT WANT A MAJORITY SHARE of the seats! And they have said so! Because then they might have to have-- gasp-- more responsibility for the system as a whole! If you go back decades, sure there's been an increase. But overall charter market share has plateaued in the mid-40s more recently. And if you don't include adult ed and only look at PK3-12, the charter share is smaller. It's been 45% since the 2017-2018 school year. If was 42% in the 2013-2014 school year. https://edscape.dc.gov/page/trends-enrollment-sector So I really do not know why you continually repeat this prediction. |
Anonymous
Lol insane renovations? Have you gotten to fight with central office just to ensure there are enough bathrooms in the new building? I promise DCPS schools not in Ward 3 are not getting crazy futuristic renovations. They're not even getting unique spaces. They just have a base design they tweak. And DCPS schools can't just up and move when DGS fails go provide safe spaces. |