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CERCER Testimony
Testimony Before The Senate Subcommittee On
Oversight Of
Government Management, Restructuring, And The District Of Columbia
Charter Schools: A Vision
for the District of Columbia
by Jeanne Allen, President
The Center for Education Reform
September 8, 1997
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee:
The quest for charter schools in the District of Columbia remains slow and encumbered by bureaucratic foot-dragging. The lack of a clear vision by officials in charge of what charters can do for DC school children has deterred all but the most tenacious individuals. No less than four major business and civic groups have been working full-time to clear hurdles and send positive signs of encouragement throughout the city. For an area with the second strongest law in the land, the dearth of charter applicants and action is appalling and certainly not Congress' intent.
Meanwhile, not two hours away by plane stands a shining example of urban education reform. Chicago, Illinois was plagued by problems wore than the District's. Their major legislation replaced the ineffective school board with a CEO and Board of Trustees and gave them four years to turn around a city where the dropout rate hovers around fifty percent. Chronic truancy is two times the state average.
Not two years after the changes were made, the new Trustees have fired twelve principals from schools with poor academic results, and placed another 28 schools with low achievement on notice. CEO Paul Vallas required all staff at seven deeply troubled schools to reapply for their jobs on June 25. Many were not hired back.In addition, Chicago trustees began its reform effort with a back-to-basics push and a requirement that early reading instruction emphasize phonics. Homework is required -- the higher the grade, the more homework -- and social promotion is now prohibited. This past summer, thousands of children were required to attend summer school to make up for deficiencies before they could be passed on to the next grade.
Vallas also created 26 new schools for troubled youth, and established a teachers' academy to train staff. Financially, the new governance structure has tackled Chicago's mismanagement and fiscal woes, and are on track at retiring its $1.3 billion deficit by 2000. Finally, utilizing the best of the private sector, the CEO hired private contractors to do maintenance work, cutting 1,000 jobs. Work orders completed rose from 2,100 annually to 16,000. Now they will shift to giving building principals their own money to keep up their schools. Fraud and waste are down, any felons working in the schools are nearly gone, and much has been accomplished across the board on behalf of the 424,000 students that attend Chicago schools.
On top of all that, the city has authorized 10 of the 15 charter schools permitted by law, and embraced them with lots of energy, support and assistance. Illinois passed its law in 1996, along side of DC the same year. In addition, in only 12 months high standards and tests became a staple for all Chicago school children. Using inner city Catholic schools as a template to follow, schools CEO Paul Vallas borrowed some tried and true practices and is using them successfully. Since 1996, achievement indications suggest a 13 point rise in math, 4 points in English, and slight growth in elementary reading scores, which in an area that has only declines for years is a big statement. In Chicago, there were no delays in repairing dilapidated buildings. It was one of the first orders of business in 1995, and by 1996, many of the most serious safety infractions were fixed. Is it any wonder that a district the size of Chicago, with 550 schools, can make progress when it permits itself to hire any number of private contractors? It also pays its bill on time; a condition that apparently is not the case here, and was a factor in discouraging qualified contractors to step forward and seek contracts with DCPS.
Just six months ago, I shared with you my frustration over the pace of already enacted school reform. As an observer with a wide and deep knowledge of reforms at play throughout the country, I recommended that some timelines be established for officials to carry out the intent of the charter law. I spoke of the unparalleled potential for dramatic improvement that charters are bringing to children everywhere. Yet while over 150,000 children started off to about 750 charter schools around the country last week, the District still has only four charters, two which are new, one of which should have been closed long ago and one who has struggled for every penny and ounce of freedom, otherwise guaranteed to her school by law.
An acquaintance who worked briefly at the DCPS recently remarked to me that he had gone in as an avid defender of the system as is, and left reluctantly endorsing full-scale vouchers. While I for one offer unconditional support for aiding low-income children with real choices, I'm not sure that drawing that support from an experience with an ineffective bureaucracy is how I'd like to find compatriots. For if that is the impact the central district has in its bright-eyed employees (and it does so every day), how can it ever be assured that any reform, no matter how mandated, is followed and carried through?
The DC Public Charter School Coalition has recommended several steps to Congress to ensure parity and equity for charter schools. Each recommendation is sound and should be enacted. They are appended to my testimony. But I go further and suggest that unless Congress make further demands and squelch the ability of the Board and the school system to suck the life out of this critical education reform, we'll be having this same conversation next year. As we have seen in countless other states, if the people controlling the purse are not advocates and are not charged with fulfilling the law with appropriate oversight, then little will be done to effect the charter schools. Take, for example, the fact that the DC Public Charter School Coalition "for months has been attempting to negotiate with DCPS officials a definition and implementation of the 'preference' provision in the existing law which provides that charter schools be given a preference when deciding how to dispose of surplus school property". Why does such negotiation take months if (a) existing law uses the term preference to denote just that -- over all others, and (b) if the DCPS supports these efforts?
The answer, on one level, is most likely that DCPS has been wedded to doing business as usual for too long. There is no reason to make charters happen, and the concept that one must do things differently to ensure freedom in charter schools--and efficient, direct funding-- is not grasped by a bureaucracy that is not, by its nature, dynamic.
And why did it take more than six months for one of the only two charter schools in DC last year to get a portion of the federal- charter school grant money. Six months, countless meetings, media attention, and constant badgering...is this what we want for DC school children? In Chicago, the Trustees have fully-established, well published timelines and goals. The Legislature has assigned people to work hands-on with the Trustees, to offer support as well as hold accountable those now in power. Part of this about, to be sure, personalities. But it is also about having a fixed set of goals and being forced to stick to them. You cannot turn around a city with the severe problems of DC with doing so. My recommendations to the distinguished Committee members, in addition to those of the District Public Charter School Coalition, are as follows:
1. Convene a Congressional briefing session for the Public Charter School Board, General Becton and staff, and the Board of Trustees, by leaders of the dozen or so states where charters are prospering and flourishing. This education process is essential to knowing how best to navigate the waters, and how to resist the temptation to move slowly.
2. Enact measures, requirements and timelines similar to those that are paving the way for dramatic reform in Chicago.
3. As I recommended in April, 1997, require 100% of per pupil funding to be-disbursed in four payments starting thirty days prior to the charter schools opening. Congress can make special allocations for DC charter schools using prior year funding formulas. Also require that special education moneys bypass the District completely and go from the US Department of Education to the charter school.
4. Assign a senior level Congressional staff person to attend and monitor all charter school policy meetings, and serve as the liaison with the civic resource groups. This person would ensure that the Congressional intent of the law was being fulfilled, and the DCPS would know clearly that Congress was aware of its various moves.
5. Finally, establish a separate State Education Agency (SEA) for the District. Currently, the District's unique positioning makes it both city and state for purposes of federal programs. Having the charter program and its moneys administered by the DCPS as a local education agency (LEA) creates a conflict of interest with the (SEA), or, itself. Specifically, an SEA would undertake all educational planning and supervise facilities, distribution of federal programs and the like. The LEA would be run with a superintendent that is local only. Perhaps recommendation number 2, to create a Chicago-like reform effort here, could be used as a model in establishing this separate authority base. Make no mistake; I do not question the intentions or motivations of General Becton and his staff. It is clear, however, that the priorities of DCPS are not consistent with fundamental education reform, and that foot-dragging and delays will continue on every education measure unless and until the control is reestablished. This is no doubt an issue for the Board of Trustees, but as Congress created the Board, so must Congress amend its plan if it fails to develop as originally enacted.
Thank you.
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Jeanne Allen is publisher of THE CHARTER SCHOOL WORKBOOK: Your Roadmap to the Charter School Movement and president of The Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC. CER is a national non-profit advocacy group providing support and guidance to thousands of individuals and communities nationwide who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For more information, please call (202) 822-9000 or (800) 521-2118, or send e-mail to cer@edreform.com.