DC Council Oversight Hearing on DCPS and the Public Charter School Board

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I appreciate the opportunity to testify.  I am Cathy Reilly of the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators for the last 28 years.  I facilitate C4DC and the Ward 4 Education Alliance. 

I have been impressed and inspired by the work in these schools despite a year of considerable challenges.  The Ward 4 schools continue to grow and thrive, families came together this fall to support the immigrant new comer population treasured here.  Ward 4 had to fight to get the two middle schools that are now thriving and collaborating.  With some additional housing going up, some of the schools have been able to gain enrollment lost as families were deported or chose to leave. However across the city and especially in wards 1 and 4 this has been a loss.

As you work to amend Schools First and respond to a changing landscape, I appreciate having ways to take into account things that are outside the control of schools and keep in mind the importance of maintaining and growing the DCPS public system of right and of choices. Among these is the need for a DCPS central office to have the capacity to address the HB1 Visa and green cards the international teachers require.  Everything cannot be passed to schools and the advantage of a system is that cost can be distributed and equity attended to.  This also applies to the Connected Schools program and community schools. 

SHAPPE has been meeting for 28 years this month.  There have been many changes but all of the DCPS high school communities have continued to work to keep students engaged and safe. 

Enrollment continues to fluctuate with expanding inventory beyond capacity.  We no longer have the financial cushion we once had, the financial plan is not fully funded. There have been substantial cuts to healthcare already which will have a wide ranging effect. 

As a city we have tolerated and funded inefficiency in the way we plan, and fund public education. I hope we can proceed with a larger and longer view.  The decision to move 32m in fixed costs out of DCPS and into DGS as the city agency responsible for paying those bills follows decisions over years to fund facilities outside of the UPSFF including with the Charter School Facilities Allowance and the Capital plan.  Recommendations are in the 2023 Boundary Plan as well as here.  I would like to be part of wrestling with this inefficiency and needed policy. 

Some additional needs that can be addressed in this budget process include:

·       the needs of the New Heights Program.  Not funding the needs of students expecting children does not mean those needs go away.  How can these needs continue to be met.

·       the need for flexibility from the executive in the ability to access funds for school specific needs and this could be true for central staff as well–

·       Funding accessibility includes the issues with buses for field trips and international school to school exchange trips.  Risk management in the executive makes the final decisions.  There should be an appeal process and a more competitive contracting for buses.

Thank you

Suzanne Wells Council Testimony on 12-5-2024 on Eagle Academy Closing

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Thank you Chairman Mendelson for agreeing to hold today’s hearing on Eagle Academy PublicCharter School, and for allowing interested members of the public the opportunity to testify.Since Eagle Academy closed in August 2024, one important issue has been resolved. TheCouncil initiated a request to reprogram $13.6 million from DCPS capital funds to DGS to pay offthe loan Eagle Academy had on the McGogney school which DC leased to Eagle Academy. Thisallow McGogney to stay in the DCPS inventory with the presumption that it will be used as swing space for upcoming DCPS renovations in Wards 7 and 8.

There should be a full public accounting of the closeout of the finances of Eagle Academy. Atthe August 2024 Public Charter School Board (PCSB) hearing, there were many unansweredquestions about Eagle Academy’s finances. I found it odd in August, and I find it odd today, thatthe key people involved in the financial management of Eagle Academy, i.e., the formerCEO/CFO and the former accounting firm have not been questioned. So little publicinformation is available about Eagle Academy’s finances that it is impossible to know the fullextent of any financial mismanagement. I encourage the Council to request the PCSB provide afull, public accounting of the closeout of Eagle Academy’s finances including 1) loans the school received from the CEO/CFO and whether these loans were legal, 2) all outstanding debts theEagle Academy has, and 3) what happened to the July 2024 UPSFF that was given to Eagle Academy.

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Valerie Jablow testimony at 12-5-24 Council hearing on Eagle Academy Closing

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My name is Valerie Jablow. I am testifying about charter oversight that has failed DC citizens—very notably with Eagle Academy. My testimony is based on my work following DC publicly funded schools as publisher of educationdc.net.[i]

Many DC government actors knew Eagle’s fiscal and other problems since at least 2017. As my written testimony details, residents documented and presented those problems to Eagle; the charter board; DC agency personnel; ANCs; the council; and the prior attorney general.[ii]

Yet it wasn’t until 2024 that Eagle was subjected to much greater scrutiny by the charter board. In fact, as I pointed out to Chairman Mendelson and COW staff, the charter board repeatedly misrepresented its actions and oversight in its September 9 response to Chairman Mendelson’s August questions around Eagle.[iii]

The bottom line is that oversight of DC charters is poor; obfuscating; and actively excludes the public. The charter board’s fiscal oversight processes omit important data and are not publicly centered, essentially requiring DC citizens to act as forensic accountants to track problems while no one is conducting real oversight of our charter sector.[iv] And while having another LEA take over Eagle seems better than closure, that doesn’t address that what happened with Eagle is largely because many DC actors obfuscated and ignored serious problems--and continue to do so.

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Mayor’s FY22 Budget Compared to Digital Equity in DC Education’s Asks

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June 2021 Mayor Bowser’s FY22 budget makes significant investments in DCPS for student and teacher devices, as well as technology support and school IT infrastructure. However, there is no mention of a citywide vision or plan to close the digital divide and ensure all residents have access to reliable, high quality internet.

Below we compare the mayor’s proposed budget to our January 2021 recommendations to the mayor.

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Mary Levy and Eboni Rose Thompson respond to Post Op Ed

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It has been said, “statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” This perfectly describes the OpED Poor children are still left behind in DCPS schools” (December 8, 2019).  The authors suggest charters are winning the battle of closing the achievement gap for our children. What it conceals is significant omissions, exaggerations, and factual errors.

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Every Student Succeeds Act C4DC Talking Points for Testimony

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Every Student Succeeds Act C4DC Talking Points for Testimony before the State Board of Education. We are advocating for a model that incentivizes growth and improvement in offering our students a well -rounded education.  That means multiple measures. School Environment or school quality indicators include multiple measures that may include attendance and re-enrollment but might also look at stability measures like high teacher turnover.  We want to see schools rewarded for serving ELL and Special Education students with fair tools and measures

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