Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 16:40     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:Every state ... and DC ... has the same two biggest expenses: 1) education, and 2) Medicaid.

Very hard to deduct this much from a budget and it doesn't hit education.


DC's budget is balanced. They don't NEED to do any cuts. For anything.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 16:39     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
DCPS: cut admin, cut CO positions, and get rid of IMPACT. The absurd amount of money, time, positions, etc related to IMPACT are absolutely absurd. Look to MCPS for teacher evaluation guidance…. It doesn’t have to be soooo complicated
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 16:25     Subject: Re:Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Does the Senate have to vote up or down on a continuing resolution, or can they vote yes and also amend a portion of it to allow DC to spend at its current budget levels and send the CR back to the House?
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 16:05     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Every state ... and DC ... has the same two biggest expenses: 1) education, and 2) Medicaid.

Very hard to deduct this much from a budget and it doesn't hit education.


DC spends more per student than any other state (or possibly even country on earth). And has really bad outcomes for students. Top of the list for cost, bottom of the list for outcomes. I think cutting from the education budget should absolutely be possible. But they should get rid of administrators, not teachers.


This is like firing your dentist because you refuse to brush your teeth.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:55     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How is $350 million in school funding "cut immediately?"


The same way that federal agencies are being cut now?? Ask for voluntary resignations and early retirements and then schedule terminations with little notice. Freeze all non-personnel spending. Maybe end the school year early. Cut preschool and preK, adult education and the STAY/dropout programs as they are not compulsory. There are really no good answers when it comes to schools. It seems crazy that this even has to be contemplated when most of this money is local DC taxpayer money.

What's not clear to me is whether the total is $350 million or is it just the portion of that $350 million that is left for the remainder of the federal fiscal year (through September 30).


Is there a date that the available funding will run out? I mean, at what point in the school year will the available pot of money (minus the $365 million that will now no longer be available) be spent?


I haven't seen any dates but these resolutions are typically enacted immediately. I'm more familiar with charter finances not DCPS. Charters receive quarterly payments for their operations - July, September, January and April. We are hearing that the next payments for April, July and September could be significantly reduced. All schools are going to be hurt but given the way budgeting is prioritized, DCPS might have more opportunities for stabilization funds. Still if this passes, I'm guessing even DCPS will see devastating cuts and some charters could fail to make payroll which will put them up for closure/revocation.

If there is equity in the cuts across both types of schools, this is probably $3,500 per kid that needs to be cut.

It's really hard to believe that this is even in the realm of possibility.


So charters potentially won't have adequate money for salaries in April. And if they have no money they either 1)fire staff or 2)ask staff to work for free?


I'm hoping that if this happens, the schools will ask the parents for donations. I would be happy to donate some money to keep my kids in school.


3,500 PER STUDENT of money raised via donation? You have to be kidding. This is a structural failure and individual contributions wouldn't / couldn't make a meaningful difference.



Worried that the parents who could help out will just go to independent schools! I would!


Independent school admissions just came out last week and had record breaking numbers. There isn't an empty seat in the DMV.


Not in SSFS? Doubt you're right about that.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:42     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:Every state ... and DC ... has the same two biggest expenses: 1) education, and 2) Medicaid.

Very hard to deduct this much from a budget and it doesn't hit education.


DC spends more per student than any other state (or possibly even country on earth). And has really bad outcomes for students. Top of the list for cost, bottom of the list for outcomes. I think cutting from the education budget should absolutely be possible. But they should get rid of administrators, not teachers.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:37     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:This seems like something that should be fought in court.


There's nothing to fight, Congress is just passing a spending bill.

It doesn't have language in it that it usually has that would have allowed the District to keep spending locally raised money even though Congress never formally passed its 2025 budget. Unlike every actual federal agency that's funded through the CR, D.C. already has an existing budget for this fiscal year (the funds come from us, not from Congress). But we can't sue Congress to require them to write the law differently, and Congress isn't the one cutting DCPS funding -- the city is doing that, in response to the overall budget being cut back to FY2024 levels.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:35     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:Why is the Washington Post not covering this local aspect of a national issue?


They've been covering it every day since Sunday night; until yesterday, the Post was the only news outlet I saw coverage of this situation in at all.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:34     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Every state ... and DC ... has the same two biggest expenses: 1) education, and 2) Medicaid.

Very hard to deduct this much from a budget and it doesn't hit education.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:21     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:They shouldn’t cut teachers. They should cut out all the BS programs that don't actually teach kids academics, and cut out all the layers of fat in admin.


They won’t cut teachers. They will furlough them.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 15:09     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How is $350 million in school funding "cut immediately?"


The same way that federal agencies are being cut now?? Ask for voluntary resignations and early retirements and then schedule terminations with little notice. Freeze all non-personnel spending. Maybe end the school year early. Cut preschool and preK, adult education and the STAY/dropout programs as they are not compulsory. There are really no good answers when it comes to schools. It seems crazy that this even has to be contemplated when most of this money is local DC taxpayer money.

What's not clear to me is whether the total is $350 million or is it just the portion of that $350 million that is left for the remainder of the federal fiscal year (through September 30).


Is there a date that the available funding will run out? I mean, at what point in the school year will the available pot of money (minus the $365 million that will now no longer be available) be spent?


I haven't seen any dates but these resolutions are typically enacted immediately. I'm more familiar with charter finances not DCPS. Charters receive quarterly payments for their operations - July, September, January and April. We are hearing that the next payments for April, July and September could be significantly reduced. All schools are going to be hurt but given the way budgeting is prioritized, DCPS might have more opportunities for stabilization funds. Still if this passes, I'm guessing even DCPS will see devastating cuts and some charters could fail to make payroll which will put them up for closure/revocation.

If there is equity in the cuts across both types of schools, this is probably $3,500 per kid that needs to be cut.

It's really hard to believe that this is even in the realm of possibility.


So charters potentially won't have adequate money for salaries in April. And if they have no money they either 1)fire staff or 2)ask staff to work for free?


I'm hoping that if this happens, the schools will ask the parents for donations. I would be happy to donate some money to keep my kids in school.


3,500 PER STUDENT of money raised via donation? You have to be kidding. This is a structural failure and individual contributions wouldn't / couldn't make a meaningful difference.



Worried that the parents who could help out will just go to independent schools! I would!


Independent school admissions just came out last week and had record breaking numbers. There isn't an empty seat in the DMV.


But they always say that they have had record-breaking numbers, every year, everywhere. My FIL was an admissions director and I am sure that I heard that every single year for 15 years.

My kid is at DC private, and we were going to move him to public for HS this Fall. But now that I feel we can't give up our seat at a school where we know things are going to be stable.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 14:55     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How is $350 million in school funding "cut immediately?"


The same way that federal agencies are being cut now?? Ask for voluntary resignations and early retirements and then schedule terminations with little notice. Freeze all non-personnel spending. Maybe end the school year early. Cut preschool and preK, adult education and the STAY/dropout programs as they are not compulsory. There are really no good answers when it comes to schools. It seems crazy that this even has to be contemplated when most of this money is local DC taxpayer money.

What's not clear to me is whether the total is $350 million or is it just the portion of that $350 million that is left for the remainder of the federal fiscal year (through September 30).


Is there a date that the available funding will run out? I mean, at what point in the school year will the available pot of money (minus the $365 million that will now no longer be available) be spent?


I haven't seen any dates but these resolutions are typically enacted immediately. I'm more familiar with charter finances not DCPS. Charters receive quarterly payments for their operations - July, September, January and April. We are hearing that the next payments for April, July and September could be significantly reduced. All schools are going to be hurt but given the way budgeting is prioritized, DCPS might have more opportunities for stabilization funds. Still if this passes, I'm guessing even DCPS will see devastating cuts and some charters could fail to make payroll which will put them up for closure/revocation.

If there is equity in the cuts across both types of schools, this is probably $3,500 per kid that needs to be cut.

It's really hard to believe that this is even in the realm of possibility.


So charters potentially won't have adequate money for salaries in April. And if they have no money they either 1)fire staff or 2)ask staff to work for free?


I'm hoping that if this happens, the schools will ask the parents for donations. I would be happy to donate some money to keep my kids in school.


3,500 PER STUDENT of money raised via donation? You have to be kidding. This is a structural failure and individual contributions wouldn't / couldn't make a meaningful difference.



Worried that the parents who could help out will just go to independent schools! I would!


Independent school admissions just came out last week and had record breaking numbers. There isn't an empty seat in the DMV.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 14:11     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
Anonymous wrote:They shouldn’t cut teachers. They should cut out all the BS programs that don't actually teach kids academics, and cut out all the layers of fat in admin.


Trump and his Congress aren't really trying to create efficiency. If they were, these cuts would look very different than they do.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 14:06     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
They shouldn’t cut teachers. They should cut out all the BS programs that don't actually teach kids academics, and cut out all the layers of fat in admin.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2025 14:06     Subject: Subtracting $1B from DC Govt has to affect DCPS/PCS, right?
What's stopping Bowser from paying teachers for the rest of the school year right now upfront?

We have the money now and the Senate has not passed anything yet.