[Ed. Note: The following is an exposition of the release of school-level data on spending in our public schools, by the incomparable Betsy Wolf, DCPS parent and education researcher. It was first posted on twitter and is reprinted here by permission of the author, who thanks DC education budget analysts Mary Levy and Will Perkins for … Continue reading Are We Funding Our Schools Equitably?

Next Tuesday, July 7, the DC council will take a first vote on the FY21 budget and the budget support act. The council’s final vote on the budget will be July 28. All of which means there is limited time to appeal to council as well as to Mayor Bowser to ensure that the following … Continue reading Act NOW To Save Our Schools In The FY21 Budget!

[Ed. Note: Yesterday, the DC Council issued a draft budget report from its education committee, along with draft changes to the budget support act, with both approved by the committee today and now awaiting approval of the entire council. In the latter, not only has an amendment to offer charter co-locations (with revenue to go … Continue reading Will The Council Heed A Letter On The Price Of Disaster Capitalism In DC Schools?

Despite a few things you may have heard about during the first half of 2020 (you know, a pandemic, global economic collapse, police brutality), our mayor has been very busy in that same period excluding the public and advantaging private education interests at public expense. To be more specific: --Mayor Bowser seized the field of … Continue reading Time To Start Advantaging The DC Public In Its Schools

In the wake of the June 4 invite-only hearing last week on DC’s FY21 public education budget (listen here and see the witness list here), the DC council will be holding two budget hearings next week, on June 17 and 18--and YOU can testify! Deadline to sign up is June 15--see here and here for … Continue reading Building A Better Budget—Oh, And Hearings YOU Can Testify At!!

As you may recall, the DC council decided to not have a truly public hearing on the (disaster) budget for our publicly funded schools. In its place is an invite-only public hearing tomorrow, Thursday June 4. Check out the witness list here. Of the 28 invited witnesses, --3 are representatives of government agencies (state board … Continue reading This Is What Power Is About In DC

By proposing a 3% increase in the uniform per student funding formula (UPSFF) in her post-COVID FY21 budget, Mayor Bowser is pulling off what appears to be a heroic effort in a terrible economic crisis: ensuring some increase in school funding, albeit not at the level previously proposed (a 4% UPSFF increase). Ensuring reasonably stable … Continue reading Satisfying the Satisfied: DC’s Brave New FY21 Budget

[Ed Note: This is the third installment of a series of tales of missing public education information and active disinformation by a wide variety of city actors (and all before the current pandemic!). To see the first and second in this series, see here and here.] Tale #3: The Mystery Of Taft's Money Let us … Continue reading The Education Mysteries, Tale #3: Taft’s Money

Amid our collective struggle at being adrift without a clear light at the end of this pandemic, thoughtful and excellent recommendations have emerged right here in DC for ways forward for our public schools in terms of re-opening and distance learning. These ideas are all the more important now that our mayor announced on Monday … Continue reading Powerful Ideas For Our Public Schools Moving Forward

[Ed Note: This is the second installment in a new series on this blog, consisting of tales of missing public education information and active disinformation by a wide variety of city actors (and all before the current pandemic!). To see the first in the series, click here.] Tale #2: The Mystery Of Ellington Field Some time … Continue reading The Education Mysteries, Tale #2: Ellington Field