Major studies around DC public education were recently published, which may influence policy, budgeting, and facilities going forward. (Or not, given that the recent first budget vote by the council included restoring the 3% annual increase in charter per pupil facilities funds (for $17M) despite one of the studies showing that DC charters are annually overpaid $20M in said funds. Details!)

–In March, the office of the deputy mayor for education (DME) published a report on school safety. Whether the recommendations will be implemented remains to be seen. Here is a decent summary by W5 council member Zachary Parker: https://x.com/CMZParker5/status/1772716227997118845

–For the first time in a decade, DC has a new adequacy study on per pupil funding in DC’s publicly funded schools: https://lims.dccouncil.gov/downloads/LIMS/55020/Introduction/RC25-0169-Introduction.pdf?Id=187080

Again, whether there will be anyone paying attention to its recommendations (including figuring out what school proliferation costs when the council chair apparently believes it has no cost) remains to be seen.

Here is a good run-down of the highlights: https://twitter.com/wperkinsDC/status/1771285524243722723

(And yes, Virginia, DC charters are overpaid by DC for their facilities. See, for instance, the stuff under the heading “charity for charter facilities” here. But if you don’t believe me, see p. 18/p. 16 of the adequacy study linked here—and then reflect that Phil Mendelson, chair of the council, proudly touted restoring that 3% annual increase in charter facilities funds, which no one at the council apparently opposed. Seems the past tense in this 2019 headline remains true.)

–The most recent iteration of the master facilities plan (MFP) was released in March–and unlike its predecessor doesn’t account for excess space in charters (yes, even in those leasing former DCPS spaces from DC).

At a time when DCPS seriously lacks swing space options, this amounts to dereliction. After all, it’s not like the DC council didn’t know back in February about space for literally thousands more students at DC-owned charter facilities (that link is to information included in a footnote in my testimony for DME oversight). And that’s not counting underutilized former DCPS schools sold by DC and now owned by charters (we see you there, Friendship Chamberlain).

–The boundary work stumbled to its final report. See it here, with a good look at it and the MFP here.

Spoiler alert: though neither explicitly says anything about it, both the boundary work and the MFP can be used to justify DCPS closures and/or co-locations with charters. Good luck.