WLC Budget Letter for DGS Hearing

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Dear Chairwoman Lewis-George:

As the Council reviews and decides on the FY 2025 budget, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs urges the Council to prioritize investing in DC’s young people. Although there have been many improvements to DC public school buildings over the years, the inequities in physical school conditions experienced by students of color and lower-income students have persisted. These poor school conditions disproportionately affect students of color and students living in poverty.  Students in Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 are more likely to experience crumbling school infrastructure and lengthy delays in any repairs. As schools are experiencing challenges with re-engaging students in school since the pandemic, and the community is experiencing an uptick in crime, the District must prioritize investment in students’ education and send a message to young people in DC that they are valued and worthy of our investment. The Council must commit to guaranteeing all DC students can attend school buildings throughout the city that are physically safe and welcoming environments for all students, school staff and the school communities that use these buildings.   

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Mary Levy DCPS Council Budget Testimony

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I have studied and analyzed DCPS budgets and policies for almost 45 years, starting when our children were DCPS elementary students.  For many years, including last year and this, schools’ budgets have been unstable, inequitable, and inadequate for what is expected of schools.  Unfortunately, although the FY 2025 budgets are somewhat more equitable than in the past, nothing else has changed.

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Elizabeth Corinth 2/28/2024 Updated Testimony

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UPDATED TESTIMONY - 2/28/24 - 11:31AM Hello, my name is Elizabeth Corinth. Thank you for the chance to testify. I am a Ward 6 resident, the parent of three DCPS students, an LSAT member, and a co-facilitator of the DC LSAT Collective. I have also served as a substitute teacher at several DCPS and public charter schools.

First I’d like to speak to the importance of Local School Advisory Teams, and the need to do more to ensure that every school has an active LSAT with productive connections to their school community and their principal. Currently this is not the case at every school, despite it being a requirement of the WTU's collective bargaining agreement. In conversations with LSAT members from all 8 wards, a few key barriers to this goal have become apparent:

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Betsy Wolf - Testimony on DCPS FY24 School Budgets

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DCPS dropped its FY24 budget models last week. Here are some insights.

Background: Looking at per pupil budget amounts without considering context is very misleading. Example: Let’s say a school has many self-contained classes. It may look like the school has substantially more $, but that’s not actually true. Moreover, special ed and English learner dollars only reach those student subgroups, who are in the minority in the vast majority of schools.

Solution: The best way to compare budgets across schools is to first remove the $ going to special education and EL students. Removing fixed positions (including psychologists and social workers) and funding buckets for special education and EL students gives a better comparison.

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Testimony submitted to Council on WTU Contract for 2023-2-1 Hearing

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We support the Council approving the negotiated WTU contract to better support their members- the DCPS teacher corps. ……..

For now, we stand by our memo of January 12th.  We do not believe that the retroactive funds in the WTU contract allocated specifically for DCPS teachers (as described in the contract) should be disbursed to the charter LEAs. UPSFF funds going forward for both sectors will be part of the FY24 budget discussions and will thus apply to all LEAs. 

Pay and benefits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that cover 2019 through this year are for specific individuals and were negotiated by one of 69 LEAs - the publicly managed DCPS. Whatever you decide, it has to be specific to LEA, aligned with demonstrated facts on salary, raises, and existing resources as it is for DCPS, and by teacher not enrollment.  

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DCPS Budget Hearing 11-16-22 Cathy Reilly

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My name is Cathy Reilly and I have the privilege and opportunity to facilitate and manage the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators,(SHAPPE) as well as the Ward 4 Ed Alliance and C4DC Coalition for DC Public Schools and Communities.

We are very pleased that enrollment is up and strongly up in 9th and 10th grade. DCPS will need to maintain high school funding as well as ensure the elementary and middle schools are invested in and stable to keep these students living in the District and enrolled in DCPS. DCPS is in a competitive environment.

These are the items that rise to the top of the list now:

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DCPS Budget Hearing 11-16-22 Suzanne Wells

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My name is Suzanne Wells, and I am the president of the Ward 6 Public Schools Parent Organization.

I am testifying this evening about the need to increase the salaries of DCPS Educational Aides, school-based technology, and librarians.

Based on information from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 2921, the pay scale for a new Educational Aide (EG/DS-04, Step 1) in 2021 was $16.62. The starting salary of Educational Aides is only $0.52 above the minimum wage in DC. After ten years of service, the pay of an Educational Aide rises to only $21.16; a $4.54 increase.

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Memo to Council Members on Schools First in Budgeting Act

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Coalition for DC Public Schools and Communities (C4DC) is a coalition of groups and organizations that share values and priorities essential to excellent and equitable District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).

We believe that DCPS as the publicly governed, managed and funded system for public education is a critical part of our democratic system of government. This citywide system must guarantee education rights for every school-age child — in every corner of the city.

The District of Columbia now has 69 separate local education agencies or school systems with no real limit on continued expansion regardless of thousands of excess seats in both sectors. The specter of school closings is the largest threat to stability. It will be inevitable if there is not a larger vision for stability and a willingness to take on limiting expansion with solid planning and a robust process of community engagement.

For DCPS, unlike the charter sector, the DC Council has authority through policy to oversee and support the DCPS school system. We support the intent of the Schools First in Budgeting Act B24-570 and its focus on stability. We have some concerns with unintended consequences given the baseline of this budget and some of its provisions. However as it moves forward we feel the points listed below can strengthen the intent of the bill.

After a lot of deliberation, we have consensus on the following points pertinent to Bill 24-570 The Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act of 2022 and would like them considered for inclusion in the final draft.

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MacArthur Blvd DCPS High School Capacity

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I, as the head of the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators and the convener of the Ward 4 Ed Alliance continue to make the argument that a DCPS high school at the MacArthur Blvd location should be 750 not 1000.

- The projected population of 14 to 17 year olds in Neighborhood clusters 4 and 13 is 953 by 2025[i]

- The grade level enrollment at Hardy is about 180 per grade (4 times 180 is 720)

- Students graduating from Hardy will attend the MacArthur School as well as School Without Walls, Ellington, Banneker, private schools as well as potentially some charter schools. They will not all attend MacArthur, similar to the choices available to families from middle to high school across the city.

- There are 204 out of boundary students across the grade span at Hardy. This indicates there are opportunities for students from across the city to have access[ii]

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