DC Charter School Alliance FY27 Budget Letter

Dear Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor Kihn:

Your ongoing and historic investment in our city's education system has been essential to ensuring students and teachers have the resources and support they need to succeed. We applaud your commitment to our schools and your vision to invest in student success, both in and beyond the classroom.

For 30 years, DC's public charter schools have expanded opportunity through innovative, unique learning models that prioritize student needs. Whether it's a structured educational environment, or a focus on language immersion, blended learning, expeditionary learning, or the Montessori model, the city's charter schools offer distinct, meaningful choices for District families.

Continuing to adequately resource charter schools is critical to their success in educating more than 47,000 DC students. As you prepare your proposed budget for FY27, we urge you to continue to invest in public education in the following ways:

Provide Equitable Funding Through UPSFF: Investing in growing the pipeline of high-quality educators in the city is the number one way to rapidly accelerate student academic achievement. Equitable teacher pay must go through the formula to ensure charter school educators receive compensation comparable to their DCPS colleagues. Continued, adequate increases through the UPSFF will increase educator retention, keep pace with cost-of-living increases, attract others to the profession, and enable critical school investments in academic initiatives that will lead to continued growth in math and literacy for students across our city.

Maintain the annual charter school facilities allotment increase at 3.1 percent: All students deserve to learn in safe, comfortable, well-maintained school facilities. Charter schools do not have access to capital funds for facility upgrades, HVAC repairs or replacements and elevator installation and repairs. Schools must continue to receive the funding necessary through the charter facilities allotment to keep up with rising costs to secure and maintain buildings.

Continue strengthening college and career pathways for students: Building on the momentum of Compact 2043, we recommend expanding Advanced Technical Centers that provide students with hands-on career training in high-demand fields. We also recommend continued investments in adult schools, increasing work-based learning opportunities, including paid apprenticeships that remove financial barriers to participation, and investing in the Education Through Employment Pathways (ETEP) data system to better track and support student career outcomes. These investments will ensure DC students graduate ready for both college and career.

Increase the adult school weight to align with the recommendation in the adequacy study or create a grant program for adult schools: Adult learners face unique challenges and require specialized support to succeed. We recommend increasing the adult school weight in the UPSFF to 1.3 as recommended in the 2023 School Funding Study. If that’s not possible given a challenging fiscal outlook, at minimum, consider funding a grant program to support necessary accommodations for adult learners with disabilities, since they are not eligible for special education and at-risk funding weights.

Fund the new Level 5 special education weight: It is essential that students, such as those who attend St. Colletta PCS, who require both full-time specialized instruction and full-time dedicated aide and/or nursing support due to the severity of their disabilities, have the resources they need. We recommend fully funding the new Level 5 as recommended by the 2023 School Funding Study and the 2024-25 UPSFF Working Group Recommendations. If that is not immediately possible, we recommend the interim alternative of increasing the special education school weight from 1.17 to 1.9 so that specialized schools can continue to serve these students in the unique environment they need. 

Invest in the whole child and supportive school communities: We know that students need more than academics to thrive. We urge you to continue to invest holistically in student wellbeing. This includes building on the successes of the Safe Passage program so that school communities most affected by federal policy changes have the resources they need to support their students.  We also urge you to ensure adequate funding for school nurses and school-based mental health services to ensure students' growing health and social and emotional needs are met. Finally, we ask you to maintain DC SchoolConnect funding, as this program continues to be successful in increasing student attendance and removing transportation barriers to education.

We share your commitment to bringing resources to the District that help identify and increase capacity for accelerated learning and growth. Every DC student – regardless of ZIP code, income, learning style, or ability level – deserves a high-quality public education that prepares them for lifelong success. On behalf of charter school leaders across the city, we look forward to working with you and your administration to improve equitable outcomes for all DC students.

Sincerely,

Ariel Johnson  

Executive Director