Charter school parents: DC Council must not shortchange almost half of public school students
We are parents of public charter school students from different wards, different schools and different backgrounds. But this week we are joining together with families from across the District to demand that the DC Council treat our children fairly in next year’s education budget.
Right now, councilmembers are considering a budget that dedicates $2,000 less per student for public charter schools than for DC Public Schools. That means nearly half of the city’s public school students are receiving less investment than the rest of their peers, a violation of the city law that requires all education funding to flow equally to all public schools. In addition, the city is considering freezing charter school facilities budgets, while increasing money for DCPS buildings, even though construction, renovation, utilities and maintenance costs continue to increase rapidly.
It’s not fair to our children. It’s not fair to the hardworking teachers and staff at our schools. It’s not fair to us as voters and taxpayers in this city.
The public charter schools our children attend — DC Prep Public Charter School, Friendship Public Charter School, Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School and Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School — are places where students are flourishing with innovative approaches like rigorous and personalized learning, language immersion in Spanish or Mandarin, and wraparound services that follow them throughout their academic careers. But under the proposed city budget, our schools may not be able to hire the teachers our children need or pay them the wages they deserve. Our schools could also face limited after-school options, canceled field trips, cuts to school supplies, and delayed building repairs if this budget passes.
We recognize that this is a tough budget year and that the council faces difficult decisions, but we are struggling to understand why the consequences of those decisions fall so unevenly on charter schools, our educators and our students. All public school students in DC deserve fair funding, not just some.
That’s why more than 3,000 parents and community members have signed a petition demanding the DC Council treat our students fairly. We also packed a council meeting last week with nearly 350 parents, educators, students and supporters, all calling for a fair budget for our schools. We will continue calling, emailing and visiting council offices until lawmakers hear us. We will not back down, because our children are not worth less than other public school students in this city.
DC made national headlines recently as the fastest improving urban school district in the country, and the more than 130 charter schools in the city — the very schools where our children are thriving and growing — are a big part of the city’s academic growth.
DC is a city of choice, where families can enter a lottery to attend any public school they want, whether that’s their neighborhood school, a DCPS school across the city or a public charter school. In fact, the vast majority of public school students in the city — about 75% — choose to attend a school other than their in-boundary neighborhood school.
This city’s progress in education did not happen by accident. It happened because families like ours fought for better options and public schools of all types rose to meet them. We are asking the city to continue to invest in the nearly 50,000 children and adults who attend charter schools.
Our children deserve a fair budget.
Patrick Clowney is a parent at DC Prep and a Ward 4 resident; Courtney Fraser is a parent at Washington Yu Ying and a Ward 7 resident; Stella Ho is a parent at Washington Yu Ying and a Ward 7 resident; Devinn Lambert is a parent at Mundo Verde and a Ward 6 resident; and Dr. Amber Wingfield is a parent at Friendship Woodridge and Friendship Online and a Ward 7 resident.
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