Reply to Charter school funding gap in FY27 budget

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [/quote]

+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. [/quote]

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/ [/quote]

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?[/quote]

Same story with Ballou. It's 350,000 square feet and has fewer than 600 students. The renovation is gorgeous. [/quote]

Behold what DCPS will do for a school with fewer than 150 students per grade: https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/[/quote]

hard to believe how small some of these dcps schools are. if they're that under-enrolled, they should be closed and consolidated, not given $100 million makeovers. spend that money where the kids actually are[/quote]

Anacostia and Ballou have been eaten alive by charters. The city's response has been to turn them into Taj Mahals. [/quote]

So exhausting.  The correct verb tense is not "has been" but "[b]was[/b]."

THE OVER-THE-TOP HS RENOVATIONS HAPPENED[b] A DECADE OR MORE AGO![/b]

They were a flawed idea, they were properly criticized at the time, and this attempt at "build it and they will come" has not continued.  All the renovations since are in schools that are robustly occupied and decidely in renovation.

Yes, the renovations are too expensive -- we would all love to know where the money is leaking to!  Yes, DGS sucks at maintenance -- they just barely do it -- which is why schools need such extensive renovations once it happens.

All that is well-trod territory and is OLD NEWS.

You can have a fair discussion about DCPCS vs DCPS funding, but the whacko renovations are no more relevant to the conversation than the 2015 scandal at Options Charter School.

[/quote]

Actually, this is an ongoing project by the city. It's spending billions to makeover DCPS facilities (but not charters!). They just did an $83 million makeover for Truesdell. There's another $65 million for Dorothy Height. Another $65 million for MLK Elementary. [b]The list goes on and on and on, but only for DCPS.[/b] [/quote]

Honey bunny. That is on purpose! Charters do not WANT DCPS and DGS to be in charge of their renovations. Making their own decisions and allegedly being better at it is the rationale for charters! That is why there is the facilities allottment. Now, we can argue about whether it's fair, whether it's enough, etc., but DCPS and DGS cannot just start renovating charters. That's not how it works.[/quote]

You seem slow. We just don't want the city to discriminate against our kids. The two systems should have equal funding. [/quote]

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