I appreciate this opportunity to testify.  Charter Schools have insisted they are public schools, not just publicly funded.  They, you, insist charters are not private but public and they should have equal funding and equal rights. 

 Along with that should come equal responsibilities.  We are a city that has a limited democracy often subject to different whims of a Congress we do not have equal representation in.  At least with our own public institutions we can insist on transparency and solid democratic process. 

 That is not what is occurring here.  First there is a Financial Corrective Action Plan in July and then in August, Eagle is closing.  As I understand it, there has been significant concerns about the ethics and financial viability of Eagle, further documented in its site in Nevada.  Despite these concerns Eagle was granted a renewal lease in January of 2023 and now it is closing. 

Dear Deputy Mayor Kihn, Jenn Comey, and Michael Akin,

This is my feedback on the Student Assignment and Boundary Study Process.  I appreciate the chance to weigh in and hope that it will inform future convenings.  As I get more distance from the process, I have felt more distressed about some of what follows. We spent so much time with some communities and so little with others that will be affected in the future.  I do have the experience of the two committees 10 years apart.  I hope we can capture some of what the first offered that we did not have this time in the next iteration.  If I can I will try and send on more thoughts that capture that. 

The Advisory group was a strong and thoughtful group.  The choice to have the number of members on the committee reflect the proportion of DCPS students from the different wards of the city worked.  I felt the decision to have the government as voting members compared to the practice in 2013 to have them present and contributing but not voting, had mixed results.  I can share more on this if it would be helpful.

Comment to the Public Charter School Board on the request by DC BASIS to expand enrollment ceiling by adding 548 K-4 seats in SY 2025-2026. As BASIS DC’s current enrollment ceiling is 711 seats, the school wishes to increase it by 516 students to a total enrollment ceiling of 1227.

I appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback and the full availability of the application as well as the work done by the PCSB on the Sector Planning Supplement.  It is all public money and the involvement of a larger public is essential

The PCSB is responsible for the allocation and oversight of approximately 1.4billion dollars annually in local public money appropriated for public charter schools by the DC Council.[1]  This is a responsibility to all residents of DC and entails a look at the education needs across a wider landscape than the desires of one school………..

It was of note to me to see the numbers projected for each grade.  BASIS is anticipating that the class of 135 5th graders matriculates to a class of 61 9th graders in 2028-29.[7]  It is a small high school of 233 students.  The graduation rate from 9th grade would be projected to be 72% unless the young people who have left can be identified and shown to have graduated from somewhere else. 

Thus, there is no indication that families stay at BASIS through 12th grade, despite the high performing argument. The middle grades have higher enrollment, their theory seems to be that going to lower grades is a better business model. Approving a school cannot be about their need to be profitable. BASIS states in the application that “the data does not speak to the desire of families to select seats at one school vs another.”[8] This is the argument with less population growth: entice families to leave their current school even a high- quality school. Instability and heightened mobility are not in the best interest of families though. The 2024 Sector Planning report concludes approved seats already exceed high estimates for anticipated growth, and most existing high-quality schools do not have a favorable waitlist-to-seat ratio.[9] The need is not there.