Charter Schools Demand More Funding For Education

By Lauren Poteat Special to the AFRO

D.C. Public Charter Schools are fighting back in court, demanding that their institutions receive fair and equal funding for their students.

On Nov. 5,  the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, took to the U.S. Court of Appeals, for the District of Columbia Circuit, where Irene Holtzman, the executive director of FOCUS, a charter advocacy organization, spoke out on behalf of the case.

“It is not fair to privilege one sector over the other sector,” Holtzman said. “DCPS schools get more funding and are often allocated more for things like D.C. retirement and facility maintenance, where charter schools are not. Every student is important and should be able to receive access to equal funding.”

This case follows a 2017 hearing, after a federal judge ruled against the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, who expressed concern with allocation of educational money, arguing that nearly half the District’s public school students—were charter school students.

In the original lawsuit, varied charter schools argued that between 2008 and 2014, the city spent nearly $2,150 less per charter student each year, than on traditional public school students.

Many charter school officials also argued, that while the city shows that they allocate nearly $3,124 more per student to charter schools versus traditional, much of that money also gets spent on facility expenses, which is not the case for DCPS schools.

However, many other organizations, including the NAACP share conflicting views regarding the validity of public charters schools.

In 2016, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization released a resolution at its national convention, calling for a moratorium on the expansion of charter schools, until there was more accountability and transparency in their operations.

“[With charter schools], people only want to highlight successes and never want to talk about the failures,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president told POLITICO. “We want to eradicate the failures because our future is at stake, particularly African-American children and especially African-American males.”

During the POLITICO interview, Johnson also noted problems in the respective charter school communities, particularly among for-profit operators.

“There are some charter schools that have some really good best practices,” Derrick told POLITICO. “Why shouldn’t those practices be implemented in a public schools setting? There are some dog-awful public schools. How do I know? Because we try to sue them every chance we get. Our position is a quality education should be afforded to all children.”

Still, FOCUS executive director Holtzman re-affirms her position that charter schools give underprivileged students, a chance to attend any great school in the district at their choice, without having to worry about residential restrictions.

“For a long time, where you were born had a bearing on your quality of education,” Holtzman said. “Many students face zoning and red-lining tactics every day, but with public charter schools—students have a choice.”

If the charter schools win their appeal, the city will have to re-distribute over than $1.5 billion in educational funding, re-establishing their the uniform funding formula.

A consensus decision to is scheduled to be made by early spring.