On-time H.S. graduation is 21 higher than regular D.C. schools
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Across the nation charter schools continuously get
cheated out of resources even in places like the District of Columbia where charter schools serve as
an educational lifeline for 44 of the public school population" said Kara Kerwin president of The Center for Education
Reform. D.C.
charter leaders are boldly refusing to tolerate this grave injustice to these students who deserve the same funding level as their traditional school peers.
On July 30 2014 the
D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools Washington Latin Public Charter School and
Eagle Academy Public Charter School filed
suit in federal court asking that the District government be directed to obey the law and provide public charter school students with the same
amount of funding as their school system counterparts.
The lawsuit follows more than a decade of strenuous effort by D.C charter schools to persuade the D.C. government to treat their students fairly according to the law and remedy what they believe amounts to persistent underfunding of charter schools in the D.C. public school system.
Charters educate 44 of all students who attend public schools in the District of Columbia and there are 60 public charter schools on 109 campuses.
D.C. charter schools serve a higher share of economically dis-advantaged students than DCPS and typically are located by choice in the communities with the greatest need.
Interestingly D.C. public charter schools also have an on-time high-school graduation rate that is 21 points higher than DCPS and D.C. charter students significantly outperform their DCPS peers on standardized
reading and math tests.
- 56 of public charter school students are proficient on the annual state test compared to 48 of DCPS students
- Charter students outperform DCPS students in every ward of the District (there are no charters in Ward 3).
- The performance gap is especially wide in wards 7 & 8 where charter students outperform DCPS students by 18 and 26 respectively.
So as to not place a financial burden on the government the lawsuit does not seek money damages but rather a legal declaration by the court that moving forward equal payment is required and all public school students will be funded at equitable levels.
They are also seeking an injunction against unfair treatment of charter school students going forward.
The defendants in the suit are the mayor and chief financial officer in their official capacities. The Washington D.C. Public Schools System (DCPS) which is not involved financially with the public charter schools is not a
defendant in the suit.
D.C. law requires that the amount of funding a public school receives be based on the number and characteristics of its students not on whether the school is a charter school or a school-system school.
Since the first public charter schools opened in 1996 the District government has ignored this requirement consistently underfunding charter school students compared to their counterparts enrolled in DCPS.
Since fiscal year 2008 the lawsuit asserts that the D.C. government has shortchanged and illegally underfunding charter schools by the amount of $770 million or an average of between $1600 and $2600 per student per year.
This is in direct contradiction of the equitable funding requirements established in the 1995 D.C. School Reform Act.
Overall D.C. charter students posted 58.6 proficiency in math and 53 in reading approximately 6 and 4 points above state averages respectively. The - of charter students on statewide assessments is part of an upward trend in achievement growth.
This lawsuit will potentially lay the permanent groundwork for future generations of District charter students attending what have become proven bastions of opportunity in what once was a stagnant system" said Kerwin president of the Center for Education Reform.
No longer will fundamental inequity and policy ignorance stand in the way of improved student outcomes.
Currently the District of Columbia has two types of public school traditional public schools which are run by the DCPS school system and public charter schools run independently of DCPS.
The public charter schools are publicly funded are tuition-free public schools open to all D.C. resident students without screening of any kind.
Like DCPS schools charters must provide special education and other special services required by law and must obey all civil rights and health and safety laws.
Charters are free to determine their own instructional methods while being held accountable for improved student performance by the D.C. Public Charter School Board.
