Reply to Murch moving to lafayette

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[quote=Anonymous]From the chevy chase yahoo group:

On June 25, the Lafayette School Improvement Team was stunned to receive a message from DC officials that the size of our new school would be reduced, with particular impact on early childhood, art, music, and LAP, due to budget reasons.  This email came barely 2 weeks after the “final” design was presented to the ANC and after construction had begun.  DC has refused to provide the SIT team with requested data about the budget shortfall and seems in pursuit of further cuts as well, which we fear will be short-sighted and detrimental to our programs and kids.  This budget "shortfall" seems particularly odd given the fact that the city was taking money out of the Lafayette renovation as late as this April, saying we had a surplus.
 
We ask your support for full funding for the Lafayette renovation.  Please see the full text below to Councilmember Brandon Todd.

Laura Phinizy

Councilmember Todd,
 
Thank you again for your willingness to look into the concerns of the neighbors/ parents of the Lafayette School Improvement Team (SIT) team.  We wanted to update you on our request for information from the Department of General Services (DGS) regarding DGS’ redesign of the school due to budget concerns. We received a communication yesterday (July 6) from Jackie Stanley of DGS.  Unfortunately the communication left most of our questions unanswered (a list follows this email) and contained information that seems to be at odds with the public record.  Ms. Stanley’s email represented that the footprint for Lafayette had been reduced to lower costs by $500,000 to reach a target budget for the project which she describes as $72 million in construction costs. The budget passed by DC Council, which is currently with the Mayor for signature, appears to fully fund the additional $56 million in the Mayor’s budget request.  (http://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/2016_DCBudget_V6_part2.pdf)  This brings the total funding provided by Council for the project to over $78 million, $6 million above the $72 million in construction costs stated by Ms. Stanley.

Separately, it appears that on several occasions, funds have been reprogrammed from the Lafayette modernization to other projects on the grounds that, in the words of a very recent (April 27) reprogramming request from the Mayor, Lafayette was over-funded.
 
“Capital budget is available in the above-referenced project because the project’s original budget allocation is greater than needed to fully implement the project and surplus is available to reprogram to the higher priority need.” (Reprog 21-0039)  http://lims.dccouncil.us/Download/33688/REPROG21-0039-Introduction.pdf

This was not the only movement of funds from this project.  Last November, Mayor Gray requested authorization to reprogram $2.5 million from this project on the grounds that the funds were not needed at that stage of the project.
 
We are very concerned that DC has found it very simple to move funds away from Lafayette, but that now DC is telling us we must suffer long-term degradations to the plans approved by the SIT team and briefed to our ANC in order to bring a budget in line with a figure that may not even be correct.  The reductions in space in the proposal of June 25 will have a negative impact on important aspects of this school, including Early Childhood education, arts integration, music and a robust aftercare program.  These programs are important pillars of this school and its success.  Ms. Stanley also indicates in her letter that this cut in footprint is “not the only action being pursued or needed.”  We find this quote alarming.  How will cuts made in haste, as construction is underway, preserve the integrity of the design we developed to best meet the needs of our students and community?
 
Just as money was found in this project’s budget to supplement other projects which had shortfalls, it seems reasonable that a relatively small amount (.6%) can be found during the year of execution to sustain the design approved by the SIT team and presented to the ANC only last month.  Under city mandate, our school is being enlarged to welcome 805 students.  Yet Lafayette’s budget for construction costs is less than that of other schools under renovation which have less than half of our student population.  Our per capita spending is lower, in some cases 50 or 60% lower, than other schools requiring extensive renovation.  Furthermore, given the tax surpluses touted in the recent budget passed by DC Council and on the Mayor’s desk, the nickel-and-diming of Lafayette’s budget seems especially unfair and severe. 
 
If, however, additional funds cannot be found for Lafayette, perhaps DC could consider giving us a waiver for some of the onerous stormwater regulations, the cost of which have not been borne by any other school to date.  Or, perhaps DC could consider allowing Lafayette to meet LEED Silver instead of Gold, the cost-effectiveness of which was recently questioned in Kathy Patterson’s recent audit of school modernization.
 
Time is of the essence.  DGS has repeatedly told us that they are on an extremely tight timeframe in order to have the modernization completed by the start of school year 2016-2017.  This project needs assurance of a fully funded budget, without last-minute design changes to the detriment of our programs and neighborhood.[/quote]

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