Anonymous wrote:DCPS not having to factor in facilities costs inside of their budget is like MPD not having to factor in millions of dollars of overtime into theirs. We need more budget discipline as a city. I would rather reign in costs for DCPS in order to be able to afford other programs like Medicaid and the early childhood pay equity fund.

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Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

Right, this is a good illustration. The Coolidge comparison was simply meant to illustrate the same point in a nearby location.

Charter schools should not be defunded and indeed should be helped to better facilities when they outperform and outenroll.

The city spent $130 million building a pool at Roosevelt High School, a school with one of the lowest take-up rates among in-boundary children in the city. The entire annual budget of DCI is about $45 million.

That pool can also be used by all city residents including charter school students. What's your point?

Pool is also used for the 3rd grade PE swimming classes for many elementary schools including the one my child attends.

Do they let charter schools use the pool?

I'm not sure... I don't think so, but I don't see why it would be impossible to work out an agreement if both schools wanted to. This says the first charter swim meet was in February of this year and it was at Howard. https://latinpcs.org/2026/02/athletic-spotlight-washington-latin-swimmers/

I'm not really up on the high school swimming scene, but I can see they did have some DCPS-wide meets at Roosevelt earlier this year. At Woodson and Dunbar too. https://octo.quickbase.com/db/bmkzp3u5e?a=dbpage&pageID=13 I know they let other DCPS schools use it for practice too. For example Hardy https://www.hardyms.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=829226&id=0. I'm just googling this but I see Dorothy Height elementary kids also had lessons there.

Anyway, the point is, a high school may have a pool but the *use* of the pool isn't just for kids attending that high school. It's for other schools and for the public as well. This kind of sharing makes it hard to say precisely how much DCPS is truly spending on one individual school.

Kind of hilarious to build an Olympic-caliber school in a high school, plaster the school's name and mascot all over it, and then claim it's not really for that school because other people are also allowed to use it during extremely limited off hours. Disingenuous much?

I don't think it is at all. 35 hours a week for the general public is not "extremely limited". It's mainly for Roosevelt, but also for meets and for the other schools that practice there, and for the public, so I don't think the full cost of building and operating it should be ascribed to Roosevelt alone. My broader point is that DCPS has various ways of sharing resources among schools and across city agencies and the public, and that makes it hard to do a rigorous cost assessment for any one school.

I suppose you could call the pool by a different name but that would be confusing when it's part of the school building.

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Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

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?

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

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

It's the same story with Cardoza. Barely a hundred kids in each grade. The city dropped $100 million on renovations. They'd never do that for charters.

Learn to spell it before you criticize, and also the smaller enrollment is on purpose as some feeders were switched to Francis.

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Anonymous wrote:The difference in the facilities budget does feel unfair (DCPS school renovations are funded through the Capital Budget and DGS, while charters have limited funding through the schools budget, which is why we see these insane renovations for DCPS schools but charter schools feel more modest.)

Only a handful of DCPS schools have gotten "insane renovations," and those were politically driven.

Most DCPS buildings suck, and when they do get renovated, it is at minimal quality. Then they don't get maintained.

You want to rely on DGS for your facilities? We'd be happy to trade places on that one.

Not even close to accurate. Full lost here. https://dgs.dc.gov/dgs-projects/completed-dgs-school-projects. Including...
Benjamin Banneker Academic HS (2021)
Duke Ellington School of the Arts (2017)
Roosevelt High School (2016)
Coolidge High School (2019)
Bard High School Early College DC (2023)
MacArthur High School (2023)
Eliot-Hine Middle School (2020)
MacFarland Middle School (2018)
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus (2017)
Alice Deal Middle School (2022)
Bancroft Elementary (2018)
Eaton Elementary (2022)
Lafayette Elementary (2016)
Murch Elementary (2018)
Van Ness Elementary (2015-2017)
Maury Elementary (2019)
Kimball Elementary (2020)
Garfield Elementary (2024)
Smothers Elementary (2023)
J.O. Wilson Elementary (2026)
Tubman Elementary (2026)
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary (2026)
Thomas Elementary (2027-8)

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.

I know I shouldn't waste my time on low information people like you, but I just can't help myself. You remind me of Colbert at the Correspondents Dinner talking about truthiness. You feel these things and state them like facts and they are based on nothing. Or maybe you think $50 million is "minimal" or "thrifty"? LOL.

These are the FACTS. Please enjoy.

Benjamin Banneker Academic HS $125.8 Million
Duke Ellington School of the Arts $178.5 Million
Roosevelt High School $136.5 Million
Coolidge High School $160.0 Million
Bard High School Early College DC $80.2 million
MacArthur High School $81.0 Million
Eliot-Hine Middle School $91.0 Million
MacFarland Middle School $62 Million
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus $63 million
Alice Deal Middle School $45.0 Million
Bancroft Elementary $74.0 Million
Eaton Elementary $58.7 Million
Lafayette Elementary $70.4 Million
Murch Elementary $83.0 Million
Van Ness Elementary $32.4 Million
Maury Elementary $52.0 Million
Kimball Elementary $55.6 Million
Garfield Elementary $60.5 Million
Smothers Elementary $53 Million
J.O. Wilson Elementary $80-100 Million
Tubman Elementary $80-100 Million
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary $54-60 Million
Thomas Elementary $80-100 Million

My belief: The total budget and the amount actually spent on on-site construction, material, and labor are 2 different things. You know, the politics part -- the gifts to the developers and middlemen that never make it to the facility housing students and teachers.

That's a thing for sure. But also, giving the school what the parents there want, because they have some advocacy ability. The localized nature of DCPS means it's easier to get your own council reps to pay attention.

Also, historic building regulations add complexity. And the oldness and disrepair of the buildings can make the renovation harder. For example, asbestos-- a charter would simply not choose to rent or buy that building, but DCPS is pretty much stuck with it and has to actually remediate the problem, and that can be costly.

I continue to think below-market charter leases are an off-the-books subsidy, but I don't know how to estimate the size of it.

You're just making up stuff you don't know to be true. There are few facilities easily available to charters and many take what they can get. That comes along with asbestos and other necessary remediation.

Yes, they have to take what they can get, and pickings are slim at this point. But they aren't stuck with one single specific building. DCPS schools can't decide among different buildings with various pros and cons. DCPS schools get what they get and it isn't a decision made by leadership of each school.

This is only true when charters open and doesn't factor in the cost of maintaining the building or what happens when the school outgrows it.

We used to be at TR 4th Street and while the building was not why we left, it was a perpetual frustration to me that the school seemed content to stay in a truly awful space. A split campus on a busy corner with a tiny play space feet away from constant traffic? It sucks. Meanwhile DCPS schools in the same neighborhood have almost all gotten major renovations and overhauls within the last 10 years. Yes, TR has Young which is a nice facility in a terrible location that is not walkable for the vast majority if students and has regular safety issues due to the location.

Charters do NOT have better options when it comes to facilities. In many cases their options are considerably worse with fewer options for renovation and improvements.

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Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

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?

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

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

It's the same story with Cardoza. Barely a hundred kids in each grade. The city dropped $100 million on renovations. They'd never do that for charters.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

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?

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

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

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Anonymous wrote:The difference in the facilities budget does feel unfair (DCPS school renovations are funded through the Capital Budget and DGS, while charters have limited funding through the schools budget, which is why we see these insane renovations for DCPS schools but charter schools feel more modest.)

Only a handful of DCPS schools have gotten "insane renovations," and those were politically driven.

Most DCPS buildings suck, and when they do get renovated, it is at minimal quality. Then they don't get maintained.

You want to rely on DGS for your facilities? We'd be happy to trade places on that one.

Not even close to accurate. Full lost here. https://dgs.dc.gov/dgs-projects/completed-dgs-school-projects. Including...
Benjamin Banneker Academic HS (2021)
Duke Ellington School of the Arts (2017)
Roosevelt High School (2016)
Coolidge High School (2019)
Bard High School Early College DC (2023)
MacArthur High School (2023)
Eliot-Hine Middle School (2020)
MacFarland Middle School (2018)
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus (2017)
Alice Deal Middle School (2022)
Bancroft Elementary (2018)
Eaton Elementary (2022)
Lafayette Elementary (2016)
Murch Elementary (2018)
Van Ness Elementary (2015-2017)
Maury Elementary (2019)
Kimball Elementary (2020)
Garfield Elementary (2024)
Smothers Elementary (2023)
J.O. Wilson Elementary (2026)
Tubman Elementary (2026)
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary (2026)
Thomas Elementary (2027-8)

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.

I know I shouldn't waste my time on low information people like you, but I just can't help myself. You remind me of Colbert at the Correspondents Dinner talking about truthiness. You feel these things and state them like facts and they are based on nothing. Or maybe you think $50 million is "minimal" or "thrifty"? LOL.

These are the FACTS. Please enjoy.

Benjamin Banneker Academic HS $125.8 Million
Duke Ellington School of the Arts $178.5 Million
Roosevelt High School $136.5 Million
Coolidge High School $160.0 Million
Bard High School Early College DC $80.2 million
MacArthur High School $81.0 Million
Eliot-Hine Middle School $91.0 Million
MacFarland Middle School $62 Million
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus $63 million
Alice Deal Middle School $45.0 Million
Bancroft Elementary $74.0 Million
Eaton Elementary $58.7 Million
Lafayette Elementary $70.4 Million
Murch Elementary $83.0 Million
Van Ness Elementary $32.4 Million
Maury Elementary $52.0 Million
Kimball Elementary $55.6 Million
Garfield Elementary $60.5 Million
Smothers Elementary $53 Million
J.O. Wilson Elementary $80-100 Million
Tubman Elementary $80-100 Million
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary $54-60 Million
Thomas Elementary $80-100 Million

My belief: The total budget and the amount actually spent on on-site construction, material, and labor are 2 different things. You know, the politics part -- the gifts to the developers and middlemen that never make it to the facility housing students and teachers.

That's a thing for sure. But also, giving the school what the parents there want, because they have some advocacy ability. The localized nature of DCPS means it's easier to get your own council reps to pay attention.

Also, historic building regulations add complexity. And the oldness and disrepair of the buildings can make the renovation harder. For example, asbestos-- a charter would simply not choose to rent or buy that building, but DCPS is pretty much stuck with it and has to actually remediate the problem, and that can be costly.

I continue to think below-market charter leases are an off-the-books subsidy, but I don't know how to estimate the size of it.

You're just making up stuff you don't know to be true. There are few facilities easily available to charters and many take what they can get. That comes along with asbestos and other necessary remediation.

Yes, they have to take what they can get, and pickings are slim at this point. But they aren't stuck with one single specific building. DCPS schools can't decide among different buildings with various pros and cons. DCPS schools get what they get and it isn't a decision made by leadership of each school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

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Anonymous wrote:The difference in the facilities budget does feel unfair (DCPS school renovations are funded through the Capital Budget and DGS, while charters have limited funding through the schools budget, which is why we see these insane renovations for DCPS schools but charter schools feel more modest.)

Only a handful of DCPS schools have gotten "insane renovations," and those were politically driven.

Most DCPS buildings suck, and when they do get renovated, it is at minimal quality. Then they don't get maintained.

You want to rely on DGS for your facilities? We'd be happy to trade places on that one.

Not even close to accurate. Full lost here. https://dgs.dc.gov/dgs-projects/completed-dgs-school-projects. Including...
Benjamin Banneker Academic HS (2021)
Duke Ellington School of the Arts (2017)
Roosevelt High School (2016)
Coolidge High School (2019)
Bard High School Early College DC (2023)
MacArthur High School (2023)
Eliot-Hine Middle School (2020)
MacFarland Middle School (2018)
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus (2017)
Alice Deal Middle School (2022)
Bancroft Elementary (2018)
Eaton Elementary (2022)
Lafayette Elementary (2016)
Murch Elementary (2018)
Van Ness Elementary (2015-2017)
Maury Elementary (2019)
Kimball Elementary (2020)
Garfield Elementary (2024)
Smothers Elementary (2023)
J.O. Wilson Elementary (2026)
Tubman Elementary (2026)
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary (2026)
Thomas Elementary (2027-8)

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.

I know I shouldn't waste my time on low information people like you, but I just can't help myself. You remind me of Colbert at the Correspondents Dinner talking about truthiness. You feel these things and state them like facts and they are based on nothing. Or maybe you think $50 million is "minimal" or "thrifty"? LOL.

These are the FACTS. Please enjoy.

Benjamin Banneker Academic HS $125.8 Million
Duke Ellington School of the Arts $178.5 Million
Roosevelt High School $136.5 Million
Coolidge High School $160.0 Million
Bard High School Early College DC $80.2 million
MacArthur High School $81.0 Million
Eliot-Hine Middle School $91.0 Million
MacFarland Middle School $62 Million
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus $63 million
Alice Deal Middle School $45.0 Million
Bancroft Elementary $74.0 Million
Eaton Elementary $58.7 Million
Lafayette Elementary $70.4 Million
Murch Elementary $83.0 Million
Van Ness Elementary $32.4 Million
Maury Elementary $52.0 Million
Kimball Elementary $55.6 Million
Garfield Elementary $60.5 Million
Smothers Elementary $53 Million
J.O. Wilson Elementary $80-100 Million
Tubman Elementary $80-100 Million
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary $54-60 Million
Thomas Elementary $80-100 Million

My belief: The total budget and the amount actually spent on on-site construction, material, and labor are 2 different things. You know, the politics part -- the gifts to the developers and middlemen that never make it to the facility housing students and teachers.

That's a thing for sure. But also, giving the school what the parents there want, because they have some advocacy ability. The localized nature of DCPS means it's easier to get your own council reps to pay attention.

Also, historic building regulations add complexity. And the oldness and disrepair of the buildings can make the renovation harder. For example, asbestos-- a charter would simply not choose to rent or buy that building, but DCPS is pretty much stuck with it and has to actually remediate the problem, and that can be costly.

I continue to think below-market charter leases are an off-the-books subsidy, but I don't know how to estimate the size of it.

You're just making up stuff you don't know to be true. There are few facilities easily available to charters and many take what they can get. That comes along with asbestos and other necessary remediation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

Right, this is a good illustration. The Coolidge comparison was simply meant to illustrate the same point in a nearby location.

Charter schools should not be defunded and indeed should be helped to better facilities when they outperform and outenroll.

The city spent $130 million building a pool at Roosevelt High School, a school with one of the lowest take-up rates among in-boundary children in the city. The entire annual budget of DCI is about $45 million.

That pool can also be used by all city residents including charter school students. What's your point?

Pool is also used for the 3rd grade PE swimming classes for many elementary schools including the one my child attends.

Do they let charter schools use the pool?

I'm not sure... I don't think so, but I don't see why it would be impossible to work out an agreement if both schools wanted to. This says the first charter swim meet was in February of this year and it was at Howard. https://latinpcs.org/2026/02/athletic-spotlight-washington-latin-swimmers/

I'm not really up on the high school swimming scene, but I can see they did have some DCPS-wide meets at Roosevelt earlier this year. At Woodson and Dunbar too. https://octo.quickbase.com/db/bmkzp3u5e?a=dbpage&pageID=13 I know they let other DCPS schools use it for practice too. For example Hardy https://www.hardyms.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=829226&id=0. I'm just googling this but I see Dorothy Height elementary kids also had lessons there.

Anyway, the point is, a high school may have a pool but the *use* of the pool isn't just for kids attending that high school. It's for other schools and for the public as well. This kind of sharing makes it hard to say precisely how much DCPS is truly spending on one individual school.

DCPS isn't spending anything because those costs are handled by other agencies.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference in the facilities budget does feel unfair (DCPS school renovations are funded through the Capital Budget and DGS, while charters have limited funding through the schools budget, which is why we see these insane renovations for DCPS schools but charter schools feel more modest.)

Only a handful of DCPS schools have gotten "insane renovations," and those were politically driven.

Most DCPS buildings suck, and when they do get renovated, it is at minimal quality. Then they don't get maintained.

You want to rely on DGS for your facilities? We'd be happy to trade places on that one.

Not even close to accurate. Full lost here. https://dgs.dc.gov/dgs-projects/completed-dgs-school-projects. Including...
Benjamin Banneker Academic HS (2021)
Duke Ellington School of the Arts (2017)
Roosevelt High School (2016)
Coolidge High School (2019)
Bard High School Early College DC (2023)
MacArthur High School (2023)
Eliot-Hine Middle School (2020)
MacFarland Middle School (2018)
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus (2017)
Alice Deal Middle School (2022)
Bancroft Elementary (2018)
Eaton Elementary (2022)
Lafayette Elementary (2016)
Murch Elementary (2018)
Van Ness Elementary (2015-2017)
Maury Elementary (2019)
Kimball Elementary (2020)
Garfield Elementary (2024)
Smothers Elementary (2023)
J.O. Wilson Elementary (2026)
Tubman Elementary (2026)
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary (2026)
Thomas Elementary (2027-8)

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.

I know I shouldn't waste my time on low information people like you, but I just can't help myself. You remind me of Colbert at the Correspondents Dinner talking about truthiness. You feel these things and state them like facts and they are based on nothing. Or maybe you think $50 million is "minimal" or "thrifty"? LOL.

These are the FACTS. Please enjoy.

Benjamin Banneker Academic HS $125.8 Million
Duke Ellington School of the Arts $178.5 Million
Roosevelt High School $136.5 Million
Coolidge High School $160.0 Million
Bard High School Early College DC $80.2 million
MacArthur High School $81.0 Million
Eliot-Hine Middle School $91.0 Million
MacFarland Middle School $62 Million
Marie Reed Elementary/Education Campus $63 million
Alice Deal Middle School $45.0 Million
Bancroft Elementary $74.0 Million
Eaton Elementary $58.7 Million
Lafayette Elementary $70.4 Million
Murch Elementary $83.0 Million
Van Ness Elementary $32.4 Million
Maury Elementary $52.0 Million
Kimball Elementary $55.6 Million
Garfield Elementary $60.5 Million
Smothers Elementary $53 Million
J.O. Wilson Elementary $80-100 Million
Tubman Elementary $80-100 Million
Malcolm X @ Green Elementary $54-60 Million
Thomas Elementary $80-100 Million

My belief: The total budget and the amount actually spent on on-site construction, material, and labor are 2 different things. You know, the politics part -- the gifts to the developers and middlemen that never make it to the facility housing students and teachers.

That's a thing for sure. But also, giving the school what the parents there want, because they have some advocacy ability. The localized nature of DCPS means it's easier to get your own council reps to pay attention.

Also, historic building regulations add complexity. And the oldness and disrepair of the buildings can make the renovation harder. For example, asbestos-- a charter would simply not choose to rent or buy that building, but DCPS is pretty much stuck with it and has to actually remediate the problem, and that can be costly.

I continue to think below-market charter leases are an off-the-books subsidy, but I don't know how to estimate the size of it.

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Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

Right, this is a good illustration. The Coolidge comparison was simply meant to illustrate the same point in a nearby location.

Charter schools should not be defunded and indeed should be helped to better facilities when they outperform and outenroll.

The city spent $130 million building a pool at Roosevelt High School, a school with one of the lowest take-up rates among in-boundary children in the city. The entire annual budget of DCI is about $45 million.

That pool can also be used by all city residents including charter school students. What's your point?

Pool is also used for the 3rd grade PE swimming classes for many elementary schools including the one my child attends.

Do they let charter schools use the pool?

I'm not sure... I don't think so, but I don't see why it would be impossible to work out an agreement if both schools wanted to. This says the first charter swim meet was in February of this year and it was at Howard. https://latinpcs.org/2026/02/athletic-spotlight-washington-latin-swimmers/

I'm not really up on the high school swimming scene, but I can see they did have some DCPS-wide meets at Roosevelt earlier this year. At Woodson and Dunbar too. https://octo.quickbase.com/db/bmkzp3u5e?a=dbpage&pageID=13 I know they let other DCPS schools use it for practice too. For example Hardy https://www.hardyms.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=829226&id=0. I'm just googling this but I see Dorothy Height elementary kids also had lessons there.

Anyway, the point is, a high school may have a pool but the *use* of the pool isn't just for kids attending that high school. It's for other schools and for the public as well. This kind of sharing makes it hard to say precisely how much DCPS is truly spending on one individual school.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

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/

Right, this is a good illustration. The Coolidge comparison was simply meant to illustrate the same point in a nearby location.

Charter schools should not be defunded and indeed should be helped to better facilities when they outperform and outenroll.

The city spent $130 million building a pool at Roosevelt High School, a school with one of the lowest take-up rates among in-boundary children in the city. The entire annual budget of DCI is about $45 million.

That pool can also be used by all city residents including charter school students. What's your point?

Pool is also used for the 3rd grade PE swimming classes for many elementary schools including the one my child attends.

Do they let charter schools use the pool?

I'm not sure... I don't think so, but I don't see why it would be impossible to work out an agreement if both schools wanted to. This says the first charter swim meet was in February of this year and it was at Howard. https://latinpcs.org/2026/02/athletic-spotlight-washington-latin-swimmers/

I'm not really up on the high school swimming scene, but I can see they did have some DCPS-wide meets at Roosevelt earlier this year. At Woodson and Dunbar too. https://octo.quickbase.com/db/bmkzp3u5e?a=dbpage&pageID=13 I know they let other DCPS schools use it for practice too. For example Hardy https://www.hardyms.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=829226&id=0. I'm just googling this but I see Dorothy Height elementary kids also had lessons there.

Anyway, the point is, a high school may have a pool but the *use* of the pool isn't just for kids attending that high school. It's for other schools and for the public as well. This kind of sharing makes it hard to say precisely how much DCPS is truly spending on one individual school.

Kind of hilarious to build an Olympic-caliber school in a high school, plaster the school's name and mascot all over it, and then claim it's not really for that school because other people are also allowed to use it during extremely limited off hours. Disingenuous much?