Reply to Charter school funding gap in FY27 budget

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Reply to "Charter school funding gap in FY27 budget"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.

[b]I am not convinced about moving tens of millions of DCPS facilities funding outside of the per pupil formula though[/b].[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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