Ramona Edelin: City still places charter school students second

District of Columbia residents whose work or leisure takes them downtown are familiar with the imposing red-brick facade of the Franklin School, a historic 1869 building that sits across Franklin Square. It was designed by Adolf Cluss, a German-born immigrant who became one of the District’s most prolific architects and whose work includes Eastern Market and the Charles Sumner School, another striking schoolhouse. The Franklin School has been virtually derelict for a decade.

Now the District government has selected this heritage site, which it owns, for a language arts museum — a welcome addition to DC’s vibrant arts and culture scene, no doubt. But it also represents 51,000 square feet and five stories of school space left empty for a decade. While 11,000 students — the overwhelming majority coming from economically disadvantaged and minority homes — are on waitlists to attend public charter schools unable to accommodate them, this is hardly the most equitable use of resources.

Charters are tuition-free, taxpayer-funded public schools that are free to design their own school curricula and culture, while being held accountable for improved student performance. They educate half of DC’s public school students.

The government’s decision to green-light this $35 million development project also defies city law requiring surplus city school space to be offered to charter schools before developers. This transgression is unfortunately neither one-off nor new.

Another four schoolhouses — all government properties — are currently set to be developed for non-educational use. These include the Crummell School, Grimke School, Randall School and Hine School.

The Crummell School, named after abolitionist and educator Rev. Alexander Crummell, was built in 1911 to serve African-American students in a still-segregated school system. Closed by the city in the 1970s, this building lay derelict for decades. The 20,000-square-foot building, on a 35,000-square-foot lot, is now poised to become a mix of luxury residential, retail and industrial uses.

This Gallaudet Street NE location is joined on the development list by Grimke, at 9th and U streets NW. Erected in 1887 and named for NAACP president Archibald Grimke, this 45,000-square-feet space has sat vacant since 2013. It will be repurposed for 40 residential units (of which only 12 will be “affordable”), offices and cultural use. The planned office space also includes the new headquarters of the project’s architects.

In Southwest DC, the former Randall Junior High School — built in 1906 to serve African-American students — also is slated for luxury apartments and retail space.

And on a prime Capitol Hill site opposite the Eastern Market Metro station is yet more valuable public infrastructure — Hine Junior High School, constructed in 1966 and vacant for over a decade. The site will house tony apartments, a 165,000-square-foot trophy office building and a new high-end grocery store.

While the city is increasingly well-supplied with lavishly appointed private condominiums and rentals as well as office and retail space, DC estimates that it requires nearly 40,000 additional seats in quality public schools to serve students’ needs.

Sadly, despite the urgent needs of disadvantaged DC children, the District government perversely focuses on private development. For many years, local officials have grudgingly accepted applications from charter schools hoping to acquire vacated school buildings — but, more often than not, has instead opted to sell the properties to private developers or, worse, let the schoolhouses rot.

Meanwhile, many charters struggle to find adequate school space in which to educate their students. As a result, schools strain to acquire suitable sports, auditorium and open space amenities.

Public charter school students receive less than half as much city funding for school facilities as do their peers in the traditional system. Yet charters educate a higher share of students from low-income families than the city-run system.

Significantly, for children now and for the city’s future, charters are strong stewards of public education, with an on-time graduation rate 50 percent higher than that which prevailed before charters were introduced 22 years ago. Charters also have registered consistently higher student scores on standardized tests, while enriching curricula and expanding after-school options.

Charter schools’ gains have been especially pronounced in the District’s most underserved communities. Students in wards 7 and 8 are twice as likely to meet state standards for college- and career-readiness as their counterparts in the traditional system.

DC law and basic equity demand that the city put public charter school students before profit. Time and time again, however, the needs of our most vulnerable residents are passed over for deep-pocketed private developers who profit from precious city assets. The city’s future — our children  — deserve much better than this.

Ramona Edelin is executive director of the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools.