Robert Henderson

Committee of the Whole

Bill 24-570, Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act of 2021 &

Bill 24-571, Schools Full Budgeting Amendment Act of 2021

January 20, 2022

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Robert Henderson. I am vice

chair of the Ward 5 Education Equity Committee.

I appreciate and support the idea of funding the needs of schools first, and central office second, as well

as the goal of providing budget stability for DCPS schools.

I have two main areas of concern regarding the bills. The first is that it is unclear, to me at least, how the

provisions of these bills will be affected by or interact with the new DCPS budget formula. DCPS has not

been forthcoming with details about the new model, offering too few examples to get a sense of their

underpinnings as well as using examples that have no reasonable likeness to an actual DCPS school

(their high school example is of a 2,500 student school – Wilson, DC’s largest, has fewer than 2,000). Bill

570 is oriented towards UPSFF funding, we don’t know exactly how that fits into the new model.

Transparency and predictability would be helpful qualities of a funding formula, but the formula itself

needs to be adequate and equitable, and we don’t know yet that it is either. School support funds also

need to be allocated equitably. Having a funding floor for year‐over‐year changes is desirable, but that

floor has to be at the level needed to adequately and robustly fund our schools.

A second concern is enforcement. The track record of DCPS of late has engendered little trust that they

will be accountable to the council or that what is stated by DCPS or put to paper will be reflected in

reality. What will the Council do if DCPS doesn’t follow the letter or spirit of the law and why should we

expect DCPS to be responsive? If DCPS routinely elides the law regarding at‐risk funds, why should we

expect anything different here?

A few other thoughts: I defer to experts on whether bill 571 calls for the most appropriate

measure of inflation to keep salary and benefits funding on pace. I agree that the public needs more

time to review budget calculations that we have had previously, but I would defer to others, including

LSATs and principals on whether six weeks before the fiscal year submission date is adequate.

Three final thoughts – first, stable funding is good — stable, more‐than adequate, and equitable

funding, is what our students deserve. That conversation, and the action to make it real, is urgently

needed. We will need to take a comprehensive look at the entire school system. If stability is a goal, and

I think it should be, we must also address the proliferation of new schools and its impact on enrollment

volatility.

Second, I fear that with the new model and the lack of transparency surrounding it, this year’s

budget release will be just as chaotic if not more so than last year. If so, I ask that the Council help

school communities navigate turmoil and ensure stability again this year.

Third, we are in the midst of a worsening teacher retention crisis and substitute shortage. We

have simply asked teachers to do too much, without adequately respecting their professionalism or

safety. Attracting and retaining teaching staff will likely require greater investment. We need to be ready

for that.

Thank you.

C4DC

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