Testimony Before the Council of the District of Columbia Committee of the Whole

Public Hearing on Career and Technical Education and the Advanced Technical Centers

By Andy Renard, MPS 
Associate Director of Policy & Political Affairs 
DC Charter School Alliance

Good afternoon, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee of the Whole. My name is Andy Renard, and I am the Associate Director of Policy and Political Affairs at the DC Charter School Alliance, the local non-profit that advocates on behalf of public charter schools in the District. I am also a graduate of River Valley Technical Center, a technical high school in Vermont, who has since earned a Master’s degree. (1) 

One program at our school ran an onsite daycare, subsidized for staff and students, and staffed by students in our Health and Human Services program, who earned their LNA licenses along the way. Students got real work experience. Teachers and student parents got reliable, low-cost childcare, which kept them in school and in the classroom. Similarly, our school built and sold a home annually, exposing students to a wide range of skills and career opportunities, and serving as the largest fundraiser for our school each year. The whole school and broader community benefited. Career-connected education is uniquely positioned to build that kind of cycle. 

Thank you for focusing this hearing on career and technical education. 

CTE programming promotes increased student engagement and postsecondary success. To support our students' success beyond high school, we must invest in a comprehensive system of high-quality CTE and work-based learning programs. The ATCs are a valuable component of that system. They are a successful, innovative, cross-sector CTE model that includes dual credit programs and focuses on in-demand, high-wage fields. To date, ATC students have earned over 7,600 college credits. We strongly support the Advanced Technical Centers and urge policymakers to ensure they are adequately and durably funded, and fairly accessible. And, with the State Board of Education's new graduation requirements and CTE diploma endorsement option, the ATCs can only be one part of a broader system and we also need to ensure we are adequately funding high quality school-based CTE programs. (2) 

The ATCs work. Charter participation has grown from four schools to 13, and 60 percent of ATC students are at-risk, more than half from Wards 7 and 8. (3) However, nearly 1,000 students applied last year for a program that served 370. With demand far outpacing available seats, our schools report a lack of clarity regarding the process used to select participants and recommend greater transparency regarding how seats are allocated. Another challenge is that ATC schedules and transportation follow the DCPS calendar. (4) 

High-quality CTE is expensive, and not every school can, or should be expected to, build every program alone. Public charters' flexibility makes them natural places to share programs and build 

programming with workforce partners. There is tremendous opportunity in DC for schools to partner with labor organizations and employers, including in the skilled trades, where only 15 students citywide earned an entry-level HVAC credential last year. (5) Our adult charter schools are already critical to the District's workforce system. Additionally, as we grow our CTE system, we must be careful to ensure we are adding options for students, not tracking them or steering them away from college. 

We ask the Council to do four things: 

First, we recommend OSSE and DME collaborate with LEAs to identify and remove any policy barriers to shared CTE programs across schools and encourage innovative public/private partnerships among schools, labor organizations, and employers. 

Second, fund the ATCs adequately through a stable and predictable mechanism informed by the recommendations of the UPSFF Working Group, so this valuable cross-sector initiative remains a high-quality career connected learning option for students. (6) 

Third, require greater transparency in the seat allocation process for ATC programs and increase transportation support and schedule flexibility. 

Fourth, protect Adult and Family Literacy grants, including DC's local match to federal WIOA funds which provide critical support for adult education programs. 

Technical education works best when it serves students, staff, and the whole community at once. Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions. 

(1) River Valley Technical Center, Springfield, Vermont: rvtc.org
(2) DC State Board of Education, SR26-15, Approving Amendments to the District of Columbia's Graduation Requirements: sboe.dc.gov; see also WUSA9, "D.C. students face new graduation requirements under board-approved overhaul": wusa9.com 
(3) Executive Office of the Mayor, "Mayor Bowser Highlights Record Demand for Advanced Technical Centers and Planned Expansion," May 7, 2026. Charter participation grew from 4 schools (SY2022-23) to 13 (SY2025-26); 370 students enrolled in SY2025-26; 60% at-risk; Ward 7 (30.54%) and Ward 8 (23.51%); nearly 1,000 applicants for SY2026-27: dme.dc.gov/node/1829796 
(4) OSSE, DC CTE, The Advanced Technical Center ("The ATC follows the DCPS school year calendar with some minor exceptions"; transportation support limited to schools more than 30 minutes away by public transit, for the school-based leg only): careertechdc.org/atc 
(5) OSSE, Career and Technical Education Report, SY2024-25 (NCCER HVACR I: 15 students, of 7,056 CTE students): osse.dc.gov
(6) Committee of the Whole, Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Report (May 22, 2026), recommending the UPSFF Working Group develop an ATC student weight: dccouncilbudget.com