DC Charter School Alliance Applauds Mayor Bowser’s and the DC Council’s Commitment to Education

Washington, DC –– Following the news that the DC Council, under the leadership of Chairman Mendelson, finalized equitable increased funding for charter school teacher salaries in the FY23 Revised Local Budget and prioritized significant education investments in the FY24 budget, DC Charter School Alliance Executive Director Ariel Johnson released the following statement:

“Today is a great day for DC students who attend charter schools and the teachers who are dedicated to helping them thrive. In a difficult budget year with many important competing priorities, we’re grateful for Chairman Mendelson’s leadership and the entire Council’s support for identifying an additional $15 million for increases to charter school educators’ salaries to be in line with increases provided to their DCPS colleagues going forward.

“We’re also grateful to Mayor Bowser for her continued historic investments in education; State Superintendent of Education Christina Grant for her critical work in designing a process to ensure charter schools receive this funding swiftly to raise educator pay at the beginning of the next school year; and Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn for collaborating and engaging with charter leaders throughout the budget cycle.

“We understand that budget decisions are difficult, and the DC Charter School Alliance and our member schools applaud Mayor Bowser, Chairman Mendelson, and the Council for working together to prioritize education investments. There’s no question this is a great outcome for charter school families and their teachers, and we look forward to continuing our work together in the coming years to prepare the next generation of District residents for success in life.”

In addition to identifying an additional $15 million in funding, for a total of $73,572,698, for charter school educator salary increases, the Council completed its annual series of budget votes today to:

• Approve Mayor Bowser’s generous proposed increase of the UPSFF by 5.05 percent;

• Approve Mayor Bowser’s proposal to provide $8.6 million on a per pupil basis to charter schools to support continued pandemic recovery efforts;

• Add $3.9 million for a flexible scheduling pilot program that all LEAs may apply for to provide additional time for educators to engage in professional development, continuing education, course planning, collaboration, and wellness (OSSE is directed to prioritize elementary and middle school applications and to ensure the number of participating schools in each ward is proportional to the percentage of students attending school in that ward);

• Increase the charter schools facilities allotment by 3.1 percent;

• Increase the UPSFF At-Risk Concentration weight by .02;

• Provide an additional $1 million to St. Coletta Special Education PCS to ensure adequate resources to better support its unique student population who need intensive specialized services;

• Maintain School Resource Officer staffing in schools, and create a committee tasked with recommending additional measures to enhance school safety;

• Require that funding for teacher compensation costs for IMPACT bonuses must be incorporated in the UPSFF beginning in FY25.