Testimony Before the Council of the District of Columbia Committee of the Whole
at the Budget Oversight Hearing on the Deputy Mayor for Education, University of the District of Columbia, State Board of Education, Office of the Student Advocate, Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education, and the DC State Athletic Association.
By Tameria Lewis
Senior Director of Government Affairs, DC Charter School Alliance
Good morning, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee. My name is Tami Lewis. I am a Ward 5 resident and the Senior Director of Government Affairs at the DC Charter School Alliance — the unifying voice for the District’s 66 public charter school LEAs. Charter schools serve nearly half of all DC public school students. More than 90 percent are students of color; 60 percent are economically disadvantaged. These are DC’s students. They deserve an education system that supports them with adequate, equitable funding.
DC's education progress over the past three decades is real and measurable– three times more students read proficiently and six times more are at grade level in math. Charter schools have been central to that progress— not as a parallel system, but as an essential part of a public education ecosystem that values parent choice, uplifts teachers, and fosters excellence. If we want that story to continue, we have to fund it equitably. The Mayor’s proposed FY27 budget does not do this and takes new steps to enshrine inequity in policy.
The proposed FY27 budget would direct nearly $100 million less to charter schools than to DCPS — approximately $2,000 less per student. This gap is not a product of the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula. It is the product of routing public school funding around the formula through budget maneuvers that effectively exclude charter school students. The UPSFF was designed as DC’s guarantee that a student’s education funding would not depend on which public school they attend. When we systematically route money around that formula for one sector, we do not just create a one-year imbalance — we signal that the formula is optional and that some students are worth less. That is a precedent this city should not be willing to set.
The fix is not a new study or another working group report. The UPSFF was built for exactly this purpose. What is needed is the commitment to restore the formula’s structural integrity by ensuring that all public school operational funding flows through it — for every student, in every school, in every ward. While the budget pressures this year are certainly challenging, this Council has the opportunity to stop the bleeding now and ensure stability for all students by providing equitable funding through the formula, in this budget and over the course of the financial plan.
Consider what charter schools are doing right now with the formula dollars they receive. In the past year, as federal immigration enforcement has created fear and uncertainty for thousands of DC families, charter schools were among the first to respond. They developed Know Your Rights resources, trained staff and families on enforcement protocols, set up emergency family communication systems, and embedded licensed social workers to help students and families navigate trauma — without waiting for direction from city agencies.
Charter schools are also delivering community school outcomes at scale. The vast majority of charter schools already provide school-based mental health services, food access, family engagement programming, and wraparound services connecting students and families to external resources. They do this with their UPSFF dollars while other schools receive dedicated grant funding for the same work. Charter LEAs have been largely ineligible for community schools grants for years. That is a structural inequity, and the proposed budget makes it worse. Any future community schools grant funding should be accessible to charter LEAs on equal terms.
We also urge the Council to address the chronic underfunding of schools serving students with the District’s most complex learning needs. St. Coletta of Greater Washington and River Terrace Education Campus are the only two public schools receiving the Special Education School foundation weight — and that weight currently sits at just 1.17, lower than the alternative school weight of 1.58 and even lower than the base weight for a general high school student of 1.22. The District’s own adequacy study and the UPSFF Working Group confirmed that actual costs — for students requiring full-time specialized instruction, dedicated aides, and nursing services — far exceed what the current weight funds. The Working Group has recommended creating a new Level 5 special education weight to accurately reflect these costs. We fully support that recommendation. At a minimum, the Council should raise the Special Education School weight to 1.9 this budget cycle — a targeted, overdue correction that would direct resources precisely to the students who need them most.
We thank the Deputy Mayor for Education for sustained investment in career and technical education pathways, including the Education Through Employment Data system, which connects education and workforce outcomes data to improve planning and accountability. We strongly support embedding a dedicated per-pupil funding mechanism for the Advanced Technical Center within the UPSFF. Currently, 11 public charter high schools participate in the ATC, and a formula-based approach would create a more sustainable and equitable structure that rewards cross-sector collaboration. Ongoing and more equitable funding for out of school time programs that is accessible by all students and enhanced coordination through the EveryDayCounts Task Force are important levers to support our collective goal of reducing chronic absenteeism and sustaining academic momentum.
We value the DME's statutory role— to "promote, coordinate, and oversee collaborative efforts among District agencies." This coordination is needed now more than ever as schools are experiencing major transitions in DC Health’s school nurse program and DBH’s School Based Mental Health program leaving schools to navigate new gaps in service.
We appreciate the State Board of Education’s expanded engagement with DC’s charter community this year, including participation in the Educator Excellence Committee’s panels on special education and ELA curriculum, as well as ongoing conversations about high school graduation requirements. We note that each initiative the SBOE advances — changes in graduation requirements, early warning systems, AI guidance, support for early-career educators — carries real implementation costs for schools. With approximately $2,000 less per student under the current budget proposal, charter schools will struggle to implement these initiatives with fidelity. Equity in policy must be matched by equity in resources.
We are also grateful for our ongoing collaboration with the Office of the Student Advocate and the Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education, both of which play a vital role in helping students and families navigate special education, safety, and rights issues. In SY24-25, the Ombudsman reported that 33% of the cases they handled were from charters, while 64% were from DCPS and the Student Advocate reported that 34% of their cases involve charter schools while 61% of cases involve DCPS. We are proud that our schools work to resolve parent concerns effectively and expect to continue to see declines in these case rates.
We support the work of the DC State Athletic Association. Participation in athletics, like music and arts programs, is consistently linked to higher attendance, greater engagement, and stronger academic outcomes. Most charter schools participate in the Public Charter School Athletics Association (PCSAA), which, unlike the DCSAA, is funded directly from LEA UPSFF dollars— another structural funding inequity. A level funding playing field for all student athletics programs is essential to ensuring every student can access these benefits regardless of which public school they attend.
UDC’s continued partnership with the charter sector is critical to expanding postsecondary access. The dual enrollment consortium — now including 27 charter LEAs — gives students the opportunity to earn college credit in high school. UDC’s paraprofessional pipeline programs, which included participants from 26 charter schools in 2024 and 2025, are equally indispensable. We encourage continued investment in both.
DC’s education success was built on a commitment to equitable funding for all public school students. Charter schools have honored that commitment by delivering results for some of the city’s most underserved families — and by absorbing community school responsibilities, ICE/Federal Law Enforcement response, and wraparound services that would otherwise fall to city agencies or go unprovided. The Council has the opportunity, in this budget, to honor that commitment in return. Restore the structural integrity of the UPSFF. Ensure all public school operational costs flow through the formula. Do not defer this to another year.
Thank you for your time and your commitment to DC’s diverse community of learners. I welcome your questions.
