Charter schools in the District of Columbia

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

Charter schools in the District of Columbia are public schools operated independently of public school systems, either by nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Although they are largely publicly funded, charter schools are exempt from many of the requirements imposed by state and local boards of education regarding hiring and curriculum. As public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition or impose special entrance requirements; students are usually admitted through a lottery process if demand exceeds the number of spaces available in a school. Charter schools generally receive a percentage of the per-pupil funds from the state and local school districts for operational costs based on enrollment. In most states, charter schools do not receive funds for facilities or start-up costs; therefore, they must rely to some extent on private donations. The federal government also provides revenues through special grants. As of March 2017, 44 states and the District of Columbia had approved legislation authorizing the creation of public charter schools. Six states had not.

HIGHLIGHTS

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated 115 total charter schools in the District of Columbia in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 39000 students.

Overall, charter school students accounted for 49.87 percent of total public school enrollment in the District of Columbia in 2015.

The United States Congress approved the District of Columbia's charter school law in 1996.

Background

History

The United States Congress approved the District of Columbia's charter school law in 1996.

In 1991 Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter school law.

The National Conference of State Legislatures defines charter schools as follows:

“	Charter schools are publicly funded, privately managed and semi-autonomous schools of choice. They do not charge tuition. They must hold to the same academic accountability measures as traditional schools. They receive public funding similarly to traditional schools. However, they have more freedom over their budgets, staffing, curricula and other operations. In exchange for this freedom, they must deliver academic results and there must be enough community demand for them to remain open.	”
—National Conference of State Legislatures

Across the nation, charter schools have grown in number since the passage of the first public charter school law. As of March 2017, 44 states plus the District of Columbia had enacted charter school laws, and in 2013 it was estimated that 4.6 percent of all public school students attended charter schools. Performance results of charter schools nationally have been mixed, with some performing demonstrably better and others closing because they could not meet required standards.

The District of Columbia’s charter school law was passed in 1996 to establish two charter school authorizers, the D.C. Board of Education and the D.C. Public Charter School Board. The original bill, the D.C. School Reform Act of 1995, failed to pass the U.S. Senate, so pieces of the act were included in the appropriations bill for the city the next year. From this the charter school system was created in the District of Columbia.

It was quickly apparent that one of the biggest challenges facing charter schools in the city was finding space, so the law was amended in 1997 to give preference to charter schools when they applied to D.C. Public Schools for vacant buildings.

In 2006, the D.C. Board of Education sought to end its authorizing duties and transferred oversight of its schools to the D.C. Public Charter School Board (PCSB). This left the PCSB as the sole charter authorizer in the District of Columbia.

Participation

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated 115 total charter schools in the District of Columbia in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 39,000 students. Overall, charter school students accounted for 49.87 percent of total public school enrollment in the District of Columbia in 2015.

Charter schools, 2015-2016
State	Total number of charter schools	Estimated enrollment	Percentage of total public school enrollment
District of Columbia	115	39,000	49.87%
Delaware	27	14,400	11.01%
Maryland	50	19,000	2.17%
Virginia	9	1,200	0.09%
United States total	6,824	2,930,600	5.85%
Note: The percentages in the column labeled "Percentage of total public school enrollment" were calculated by taking the estimated number of charter school students in a given state and dividing by the total estimated number of public school students in that state in 2015. Total public school enrollment estimates came from the National Center for Education Statistics. Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "A Closer Look at the Charter School Movement," February 3, 2016

Demographics

See also: Charter school demographics and Demographic information for all students in the United States

The table below presents information about the race/ethnicity of charter school students in the District of Columbia in the 2013-2014 school year, as reported by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. To facilitate comparison, the same figures are also provided for all public school students.

Enrollments by ethnicity, 2013-2014 (as percentages)
Data sample	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	Other
Charter schools in District of Columbia	4.0%	82.0%	12.0%	1.0%	1.0%
Public schools in District of Columbia	8.8%	73.6%	14.4%	1.4%	1.8%
Charter schools in the U.S.	34.9%	27.1%	30.0%	4.1%	3.8%
Public schools in the U.S.	50.3%	15.6%	24.8%	4.8%	4.4%
Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 203.70. Percentage distribution of enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by race/ethnicity and state or jurisdiction: Fall 2003 and fall 2013," accessed June 7, 2016 National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis," March 2016

State law

Authorizers

Charter school authorizers are, according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the organizations "designated to approve, monitor, renew, and, if necessary, close charter schools." NASCA has identified six primary types of charter school authorizers:

1. Higher education institutions (HEI)
2. Independent charter boards (ICB)
3. Local education agencies (LEA)
4. Non-education government entities (NEG)
5. Not-for-profit organizations (NFP)
6. State education agencies

The table below lists charter school authorizers in the District of Columbia as of June 2016. Click [show] to expand the table's contents.

Charter school authorizers in the District of Columbia, June 2016
Authorizer	Authorizer type
District of Columbia Public Charter School Board	ICB
Source: National Association of Charter School Authorizers, "District of Columbia Authorizers," accessed June 20, 2016

Enrollment regulations

Charter schools in the District of Columbia are open to any student within the city's boundaries. If demand exceeds available space, enrollment must be determined by a random lottery. The following preferences are required: students previously enrolled in a school that has been converted, prior-year students, and siblings of currently enrolled students.

Enrollment preference may be given to the children of a school’s founders, though not to exceed 10 percent of the student body or 20 students, whichever is less.

Funding

In the District of Columbia, charter schools receive the same funding as traditional schools from the District's general fund.

The way charter schools are financed differs from state to state, and even between districts within states. In the District of Columbia, charter schools are to receive the same operational funding as traditional schools from the District’s general fund. They are not given access to funds distributed to traditional schools by other city and federal agencies.

The city does not provide any start-up grants or funding for charter schools, but it does provide some funding for facilities. They are also eligible for tax-exempt bonds from the city.

The law gives charter school students discount public transportation rates at the same rate as traditional public school students.

Accountability

See also: Accountability measures for charter schools

In the District of Columbia, charter contracts are not required to outline performance standards for the school. Schools must submit an annual report to their authorizer on their financial, operational and academic performance. Schools must undergo an independent financial audit, with a statement by the auditor being included in the reports. The reports are not automatically public, but citizens may request to view them.

Additionally, authorizers are required to submit an annual report to several entities, including the city’s Mayor, the D.C. Board of Education, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and congressional committees dedicated to education. The authorizer also has the responsibility of monitoring and overseeing its schools. Although not required to, the D.C. Public Charter School Board has made it a practice to inform schools of problems and allow them to attempt to fix them.

The authorizer itself must undergo a biennial evaluation by the Government Accountability Office, which looks at its oversight and quality maintenance abilities.

Charter school law rankings

In January 2016, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report ranking all of the nation's charter school laws. The District of Columbia's law ranked 12 out of 43. The organization ranked each state's law by considering what it called "20 essential components of a strong charter school law." The table below compares the District of Columbia's score with that of neighboring states. To access the full report, including methodology, click here.

Charter school law rankings, January 2016
State	2016 ranking	2015 ranking	Ranking difference	2016 score	2015 score	Score difference
District of Columbia	12	9	-3	153	153	0
Delaware	24	19	-5	138	142	-4
Maryland	43	43	0	49	41	8
Virginia	39	40	1	80	76	4
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "Measuring Up To The Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws," January 2016

Issues

Debate

Proponents of charter schools such as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools argue that, due to their freedom from some state oversight and regulation, they can adopt more innovative educational approaches. This allows them to cater to their particular higher-risk school age populations, which are generally composed of more minority and poor students. In addition, advocates argue that charter schools empower parents and improve traditional public schools through competition.

Meanwhile, critics such as Diane Ravitch argue that charter schools have not been proven to produce significantly higher levels of academic achievement as promised. It is difficult to find data comparable to traditional public schools. Critics also contend that charter schools divert funds from traditional public schools, which continue to enroll significant majorities of public school students, thereby compounding problems at failing schools and generating unequal outcomes for students.

Funding inequity

In 2014, the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform released a report identifying disparities between charter school funding and traditional public school funding. Examining 31 states, the researchers considered all sources of charter school funding, including public funds, grants, and philanthropic donations. Researchers found that charter schools received on average 28.4 percent less than traditional public schools. Tennessee's funding disparity was lowest at 0.1 percent, while Louisiana's was highest at 58.4 percent. The disparity in the District of Columbia was -38.8 percent, earning the District an F grade. Charter schools in the state received on average $12,736 less per pupil than traditional public schools.

Below is a chart that compares the District of Columbia's grade and funding disparity with those of surrounding states. To access the full report, click here.

Charter school funding disparity by state
State	Grade	District per-pupil revenue	Charter per-pupil revenue	Disparity in dollars	Disparity in percents
District of Columbia	F	$32,822	$20,086	-$12,736	-38.8%
Delaware	F	$13,869	$10,327	-$3,542	-25.5%
Maryland	F	$19,101	$11,754	-$7,347	-38.5%
Virginia	Was not studied
Source: University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform, "Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands," accessed October 22, 2014

Charter school management organizations and other groups

See also: Charter school management organization

A slight majority of the charter schools in the District of Columbia are freestanding, meaning they do not contract with a charter school management organization for education services. In the 2010-2011 school year, 54 schools in District of Columbia were freestanding, 37 operated under charter management organizations, and 7 operated under education management organizations.

A charter management organization (CMO) is a nonprofit association that forms a network of charter schools with a shared vision and provides education services to those schools. As of 2014 the largest CMO in the District of Columbia was the KIPP Foundation, managing 15 schools. The organization follows a “no excuses” program, which sets high expectations for students regardless of background, and operates under an extended school day, week, and year.

The DC Association of Chartered Public Schools is one of the District of Columbia's two charter school advocacy organizations. In 2014 the group led a lawsuit against the city for funding charter schools at a level lower than traditional public schools. Rather than a financial settlement, the suit asked the court to order the city to provide equitable funding in the future. As of November 2014 the case was still in court.

Innovation

See also: Charter school innovation indicators and High-performing charter schools

Charter school proponents argue that charter schools have the freedom to adopt more innovative practices, which in turn lead to improved academic performance. To get a sense of the level of innovation occurring in charter schools, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools surveyed charter schools across the country on the various innovative education practices they employed. In the District of Columbia, an average of 29 percent of charter schools reported using innovative practices in the 2011-2012 school year. The table below displays the prevalence of a variety of innovative practices in the District of Columbia as a percentage of all charter schools in the District. The figures are compared with those in surrounding states.

Charter schools with innovative practices, in percents (2011-2012)
State	Extended day	Extended year	Year-round calendar	Independent study	School-to-work	Higher education courses	Average
District of Columbia	76%	64%	9%	15%	0%	12%	29%
Delaware	60%	20%	0%	20%	20%	40%	27%
Maryland	23%	0%	15%	8%	8%	8%	10%
Virginia	No data available
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Public Charter School Movement: A State-By-State Analysis," accessed October 3, 2014

Ballot measures and legislation

Ballot measures

See also: School choice on the ballot and Local ballot measures, Washington, D.C.

Ballotpedia has tracked no statewide ballot measures relating to school choice in Washington, D.C.

Legislation

The following is a list of recent charter school bills that have been introduced in or passed by the [[United States Congress. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Washington, D.C. charter school. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Charter schools in the District of Columbia - Google News

See also

• Charter schools
• Charter school statistics for all 50 states
• School choice
• Public education in Washington, D.C.
• School choice in Washington, D.C.
• United States Department of Education
• Charter school management organization

External links

• National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
• National Association of Charter School Authorizers

Footnotes

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