Feedback on 2023 Boundary and Student Assignment Process from Cathy Reilly

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Dear Deputy Mayor Kihn, Jenn Comey, and Michael Akin,

This is my feedback on the Student Assignment and Boundary Study Process.  I appreciate the chance to weigh in and hope that it will inform future convenings.  As I get more distance from the process, I have felt more distressed about some of what follows. We spent so much time with some communities and so little with others that will be affected in the future.  I do have the experience of the two committees 10 years apart.  I hope we can capture some of what the first offered that we did not have this time in the next iteration.  If I can I will try and send on more thoughts that capture that. 

The Advisory group was a strong and thoughtful group.  The choice to have the number of members on the committee reflect the proportion of DCPS students from the different wards of the city worked.  I felt the decision to have the government as voting members compared to the practice in 2013 to have them present and contributing but not voting, had mixed results.  I can share more on this if it would be helpful.

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BASIS Expansion-- Concerns for System - Cathy Reilly

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Comment to the Public Charter School Board on the request by DC BASIS to expand enrollment ceiling by adding 548 K-4 seats in SY 2025-2026. As BASIS DC’s current enrollment ceiling is 711 seats, the school wishes to increase it by 516 students to a total enrollment ceiling of 1227.

I appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback and the full availability of the application as well as the work done by the PCSB on the Sector Planning Supplement.  It is all public money and the involvement of a larger public is essential

The PCSB is responsible for the allocation and oversight of approximately 1.4billion dollars annually in local public money appropriated for public charter schools by the DC Council.[1]  This is a responsibility to all residents of DC and entails a look at the education needs across a wider landscape than the desires of one school………..

It was of note to me to see the numbers projected for each grade.  BASIS is anticipating that the class of 135 5th graders matriculates to a class of 61 9th graders in 2028-29.[7]  It is a small high school of 233 students.  The graduation rate from 9th grade would be projected to be 72% unless the young people who have left can be identified and shown to have graduated from somewhere else. 

Thus, there is no indication that families stay at BASIS through 12th grade, despite the high performing argument. The middle grades have higher enrollment, their theory seems to be that going to lower grades is a better business model. Approving a school cannot be about their need to be profitable. BASIS states in the application that “the data does not speak to the desire of families to select seats at one school vs another.”[8] This is the argument with less population growth: entice families to leave their current school even a high- quality school. Instability and heightened mobility are not in the best interest of families though. The 2024 Sector Planning report concludes approved seats already exceed high estimates for anticipated growth, and most existing high-quality schools do not have a favorable waitlist-to-seat ratio.[9] The need is not there. 

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BASIS DC Expansion to Elementary Proposal Valerie Jablow

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I am Valerie Jablow, a DC resident commenting on BASIS DC’s application to start an elementary school.

As footnotes in my written testimony outline, BASIS DC has not had for years running student bodies representative of DC’s public school students.[1]

One reason is that BASIS DC has not accepted students after 5th grade—and has severe drop-off of students thereafter.[2] At least one of multiple discrimination complaints to the U.S. Department of Education about BASIS DC suggests that some attrition may be related to Black students leaving.[3]

The application itself is unclear on what grades will be open in the lottery and when. Specifically, we do not know whether the school will limit access to only K, 1st and/or 5th at some point after SY28-29, when it will achieve full enrollment.[4]

This is important to get clear because BASIS DC’s model thus far--of attrition and limited access--has helped skew the school’s population to a majority white and wealthier student body with few disabilities. While the application itself hints that this proposed expansion will provide a reliable feeder system, the graphs of enrollment over time show huge attrition continuing.[5]

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BASIS Expansion Proposal Suzanne Wells

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Thank you for the opportunity to testify this evening.  My name is Suzanne Wells, and I am a resident of Ward 6.

In making a decision on the BASIS expansion proposal, the PCSB has a responsibility not only to consider the merits of the school’s application, but also to consider the impact of the BASIS expansion proposal on surrounding elementary schools and the overall sustainability of the DC school system. The PCSB assessed the number of already approved charter school seats with the projected student population growth through 2030.  Based on updated population growth data, the PCSB has already approved charter school growth for more students than DC anticipates having over the next 10 years[1]. Approving another elementary school will only make this situation worse.  In short,  a new elementary school is not needed in DC. 

 

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Council Proposal to cut Funds From DCPS - Amidon Bowen Advocacy Committee

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Dear Chairman of the Council and Councilmembers,

We are writing to express concern over the Council’s proposal to cut some funds from DCPS central office, including:

●        Food services for afterschool meals

●        The learn-to-swim program for underserved students

●        Funds for ongoing school security

Ps. More details and graphs here: https://betsyjwolf.substack.com/p/dcs-school-first-legislation. 

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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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Valerie Jablow DGS testimony on 2-26-2024 on DGS to DC Council

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I am Valerie Jablow, a DC education analyst who discovered via FOIA that neither the CFO nor DGS has records of rent payments for a 5-year period by the Mary McLeod Bethune charter school for the former DCPS school Slowe, which the charter leases from DC.[1]

 I received no response from the mayor’s office about this; the charter board apparently believes it has no purview here; and the school did not provide me the missing records.[2]

 All of that--as well as DGS responses to council oversight questions--raise a number of serious issues around DC-owned school buildings that I hope you get answers for:

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