Equal Funding and Access to Facilities: The Building Blocks of the Future

This week the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released its annual ranking of states with the strongest charter school laws. D.C. moved down the list from 8th to 9th, demonstrating that we must do more to support our public charter schools. The report applauded oversight measures while calling out unequal funding and access to facilities as key areas of improvement. These problems aren’t new and their impacts are real; without a foundation of equal funding and access to adequate and affordable facilities, inequities for students will continue.

This report comes as students, parents, teachers and school leaders across the District are participating in National School Choice Week, which highlights how public charter schools are building communities, helping students reach their full potential, and continuing to be a positive force for change in our city.

While we are celebrating how far our public charter schools — and the quality of education options in the District — have come, we are also committing to continuing to improve the public charter sector through common sense policy change.

Twenty years ago, families with means were fleeing the D.C. to ensure their children had access to quality education. With the passage of the School Reform Act in 1996, public charter schools became part of the solution to ensure that all students have access to opportunities regardless of what Ward or zip code they live in. Today, while some families have an array of options many are still clamoring for more access to high quality schools, more options in rapidly growing neighborhoods, and more schools that offer innovative or specialized programming. At FOCUS, we are committed to ensuring public charter school leaders have the funding, facilities, and flexibility they need to serve their students and families effectively.

As the National Alliance report points out, improving the quality of education for our students starts with ensuring public charter schools — and most importantly the students and parents that choose them — have access to equal funding. For far too long, the District has allocated money to DCPS outside of the legally prescribed Uniform Per Student Funding Formula for teacher pensions, legal resources, security, and other essential services. This puts public charter schools at a disadvantage, and these budgeting practices need to change.

In D.C.’s white-hot real estate market, access to adequate and affordable facilities is an integral part of how we build the education infrastructure we need to support all families in the District. This issue is at the forefront of FOCUS’s 2019 agenda. We will work with Mayor Bowser to ensure that several city-owned buildings and lots are available for school use, and to create common sense regulation that will ensure that schools are in neighborhoods that they serve.

As the new year kicks off, we look forward to working with Mayor Bowser, the City Council, and leaders across the city to continue to strengthen our education system so that it serves all students.