Testimony Before the DC Council Committee of the Whole at the FY26 Budget Hearing for PCSB, DME, SBOE, UDC, Office of the Ombudsman, Office of the Student Advocate, and SAA

By Ariel Johnson, Executive Director

Good morning, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Council. My name is Ariel Johnson, Executive Director of the DC Charter School Alliance, representing all public charter schools in DC, serving more than 47,000 students across every ward. We are in unprecedented times. Federal funding and policy are shifting fast. That uncertainty makes your leadership on education more critical than ever. Thank you, Mayor Bowser and Council, for standing by DC students, families, and teachers. Your consistent funding lets schools plan and stay focused on student growth and achievement.

We're especially grateful to Mayor Bowser for proposing a 2.74% increase to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula and preserving the 3.1% facilities allotment increase, which enables charter schools to afford the costs of mortgages, leases, heating, air conditioning, safe buildings, and upgrades that support student learning. We understand and appreciate how much of a challenge it has been to create a FY 26 budget that prioritizes all students. 

However, great schools need great teachers, and equitable pay across public schools ensures we can keep them in our classrooms. In this proposal, the DCPS budget is increasing by $75 million in FY26, whereas the charter school budget is increasing by only $47.5 million. Leaders are very appreciative of Mayor Bowser's proposed $30.8 million for charter educator compensation for this year, however as we look into out years, DCPS will receive a total of $240 million over the financial plan to support roughly the same number of students. 

While we understand the city's deeply challenging fiscal environment, we hope to work together to ensure that we don’t provide vastly fewer resources in FY 27 and beyond to nearly half of all public school students.

I want to raise further concerns about the significant budget cut that Mayor Bowser has proposed for the Public Charter School Board (PCSB), which we believe will pose significant operational challenges for the agency. We are also concerned that the budget also proposes steep cuts to the UPSFF and freezing the charter school facilities allotment increase starting in FY27. If these cuts are not reversed, DCPS and charter schools will face significant funding inequity that will weigh heavily on students and teachers. We are eager to work with you to identify a more equitable and workable solution.

Data-Driven Program Development

Because we recognize that public funding is becoming increasingly scarce, the Alliance has developed a range of high-quality programs to support our schools in achieving academic excellence and identifying operational efficiencies.  Here are some examples of the work we are leading with our schools: 

We take a data-driven approach, guided by the results of our annual needs assessment. The assessment includes a survey completed by 84% of charter school leaders representing the full range of grade levels, six focus groups of leaders, and 14 one-on-one interviews. The 2025 needs assessment revealed that many LEAs have invested heavily in professional development, curriculum, data-driven instruction, and hiring academic leadership or interventionists. It underscored the need for sustained focus on strategies that raise student academic achievement and support their implementation across the sector. The needs assessment also revealed that schools need ongoing support to manage the continued uncertainty surrounding DC education's fiscal future. This includes programming to address multiple possible levers for fiscal stability, such as identifying savings, increasing revenue, and planning for long-term scenarios.

To meet this demand, we have taken the following steps: 

The DC Alliance has focused on building leadership capacity within charter LEAs through direct coaching and mentorship. We’ve offered free individual executive coaching to over 45 charter school leaders, including 10 new LEA leaders, 17 leaders of very small LEAs, and 20 senior team members in new roles, such as principal or operations director. We also paired 14 new leaders with experienced school leaders as mentors. 

We also provided targeted information sessions on finance, accountability, governance, compliance, communications, and management for a cohort of 14 new LEA leaders and 17 leaders of small LEAs, sharing information and best practices. Participating schools include BASIS, LAMB, Rocketship, LEARN, Harmony, Social Justice, YouthBuild, The Family Place, Carlos Rosario, DC Wildflower, Inspired Teaching, and Kingsman Academy. 

We know that a high-quality charter review process is essential to a thriving sector. This year, we have worked with 20 charter schools undergoing reviews to ensure that they understand their own data, DC PCSB's expectations, and what to expect from the review process.

Now in its second year, the DC Alliance hosts monthly Student Support leader group convenings. More than 50% of our charter sector leaders have engaged in sessions regarding chronic absenteeism, mental health supports, MTSS protocols, safety, and more. 

Finally, the DC Alliance has also developed budget scenario planning tools to enable leaders to plan for their unique needs, collaborated with schools on facilities projects to negotiate favorable lease terms, and created opportunities for school finance leaders to connect and share best practices. 

Partnership for DC School Excellence

The DC Alliance also worked with our partners, funders, OSSE, PCSB, and charter schools to identify the gaps in support for under-performing LEAs. Out of that work, the Partnership for DC School Excellence was created earlier this year. I want to acknowledge Dr. Walker-Davis and Dr. Mitchell for their guidance and leadership as part of the original steering committee and now on the advisory board. They have been an integral part of launching the organization.

I look forward to Vanessa Carlo-Miranda, the Partnership's Executive Director, sharing more about her vision for supporting schools at next week's OSSE hearing.  

Supporting Collaboration

As my colleagues and I have raised in previous hearings, we have worked to build cross-agency collaborations so all parties can share and receive feedback. I raise these collaborations again today to highlight how critical they are to building city-wide strategies and encourage you to continue crafting policies that support collaborations. For example, the bi-weekly safety calls we lead with PCSB include the Metropolitan Police Department, Metro Transit, Homeland Security (HSEMA), the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety & Justice, the Deputy Mayor's Office, DCPS, the Office of Unified Communications, the Department of Transportation, Office of the Student Advocate and other key agencies. Representatives from over 80% of DC Charter School LEAs have participated in the safety call series, and every ward and LEA grade level has been represented on these calls. These calls have already had a tremendous impact; leaders now regularly connect with public safety agencies and share real-time information about safety concerns near our schools in our communities.

Throughout this year, we have represented the perspective of charter school leaders on the DME's Every Day Counts Attendance working group committees. This collaboration is leading to a slow but steady decrease in truancy and chronic absenteeism, and we look forward to continuing this work. 

Navigating the Federal Landscape 

In addition to our work with the Bowser Administration and Council, we have been tracking critical information on federal policy. We develop expert analysis and share resources with school leaders so they can comply with executive orders and other federal policy shifts impacting their school communities and vulnerable populations. We have worked with our agency partners throughout this process and will continue as the landscape shifts.   

Moving Forward

Each of these initiatives builds on the work of PCSB, DME, OSSE, and SBOE and is essential to creating a stronger public school system and a thriving charter school sector. City funding is essential for this work scale to reach more schools and evolve to meet the changing landscape. Thank you for your time and continued support.

We look forward to working together to ensure every DC student has a safe, high-quality learning place.