Cathy Reilly 12-5-24 Hearing on Eagle Academy
/DC Council Hearing on Eagle Academy
December 5, 2024 11:30am room 412
The Closure of Eagle Academy
I am Cathy Reilly of SHAPPE, Ward 4 Ed Alliance and C4DC. This is an abbreviation of my full testimony
As authorizer the PCSB is interested in providing increased exciting school options and protecting autonomy and independence. As the trade organization and advocate it collects dues from the charter schools. As a regulator it has to look at financial compliance. These three roles are not compatible. This is evident, looking at the timeline and story of Eagle’s founding, decline and then costly closure.
To demonstrate: The PCSB passed Eagle in the 20-year review in Jan of 2023, approved another 5 years of operation and then in June 2023 they placed Eagle on a financial monitoring list. It then went through extensions and approvals and a little more than a year later a closure. Valerie Jablow in Educationdc has this fully documented.
With their own assessment of a more challenging education landscape, the PCSB continues to grant expansions and authorization for additional citywide schools.
A further complication of a privately owned public sector was the building - With its closure there was a building (McGogney) owned by the District, needed by DCPS for swing space, with bank debt that had to be paid. DCPS is now securing this through a budget transfer from its funds.[i] Grateful for this.
The Council has line- item authority over 1.4 billion of the DCPS budget, you have exercised policy and practice to work on stability and adequacy for the families in the DCPS schools. You have the power of the purse in allocating the capital budget and this must be weighed with all other capital needs in the city that affect all citizens including families. You have delegated authorizing and regulation to the PCSB over 67 local education agencies, 134 schools and 43,000 plus K-12 and almost 5000 adult students. The charter school staff, families and DC taxpayers deserve the oversight you are exercising with this hearing and hopefully going forward over the reporting process and decisions of the PCSB.
Recommendations:
· DCPS should get first right on all DC owned buildings closed by charters, prior to deals like the one that was proposed with Friendship. The Charter sector has first right on DCPS buildings.
· The Council needs a full report on the leases by charters on DC owned buildings, the provisions, the agreements made for rent waivers in exchange for capital work done.
· Charter schools should have a policy path to becoming DCPS schools. DCPS schools (Paul) have that path to becoming charters.
· The Council should hold a hearing on the DME proposal to implement Recommendation #23 from the Boundary and Student Assignment Study on joint planning
· The Council has to fund on documented need of the charter facilities allowance. The School Funding Study of 2023 noted building costs in the charter sector were 149m and the allotment was 169m. This is a huge outlay of money for which DC has no idea of the return on its investment. Further, there is no requirement that charters explain how this money is used. With tight budgets, this public money going to the private sector has to go for its intended use and be accounted for.
· The Council required publication of charter teacher salaries as they increased funding with public dollars to be paid directly to charter staff in line with the WTU contract last spring. I have not been able to l locate it.