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.

What are the desires of this one school and why should they be rewarded at cost to other schools and families? BASIS recently stated in its application to the DC PCSB that “Educational attainment has proven to be the best predictor of parent interest in BASIS Charter Schools across the BASIS Network, and as such the results of the survey align with our expectations of high interest in our program among parents with advanced degrees who are seeking K-12 schools that will set their children up for similar future academic success.”[2] This was further elaborated on in a letter sent home to families on the at risk preference this past school year.[3] While the full letter indicates outreach to serve at risk students applying, it is concerning that the expansion enables the at risk preference to move only to K-4.

“We plan to reserve a certain number of spots for at-risk students entering grades 5-12. However, this will not change our current sibling or staff preference policies. There is no chance in the world that the new equitable access preference will impact our interested sibling families. As has been the case for years, all rising 5th grade siblings will be able to get a seat offer at BASIS DC.
However, let's not play “make believe” -- adding another preference option will mean fewer open spots for other families applying to BASIS DC through the lottery.
We strongly believe this will be less of an issue if we are able to expand to a second campus. If and when we are able to expand, our equitable access policy would move to the K-4 campus and the primary enrolling grades. Furthermore, this new preference will impact our opening grade level seat size by less than 8% of total seat offers -- meaning a marginal impact to new families submitting applications.”

The BASIS application speaks to their performance with children with additional challenges. The numbers show this is a small percentage of the children projected to attend the school. It is far different to have an “at risk” population of 9% then 80% or 90% and not accurate to compare test scores as if that is not a factor. They served 60 at risk students out of 690.[4] this past year 2023-2024. Despite assurances to the contrary, serving these students does not appear to have been a core priority.

Choosing BASIS because “they do it best”[5] does not address the fact that there are currently 60-high quality, high scoring elementary schools (as defined by the DC School Report Card Score) and only 32% have a waitlist-to-seat ratio of >1. [6]

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.

Fundamentally there is harm in DC having more schools and more capacity than there are students. It is expensive and inefficient to have so many unfilled seats in both sectors. We are spreading our resources thinly; more sites mean more administration. Declining demand forces greater competition and perhaps destabilizing and for some, traumatic school closings. The bar for opening or expanding a citywide school has to be extremely high given the fact that Charter schools were authorized to serve 9,755 more students than they enrolled in SY 2022 –23.[10]

It is for this reason that the PCSB participated in and agreed to Recommendation 23 put forward by the 2023 Boundary and Student Assignment Study.[11]

DME shall work with DCPS and DC PCSB to create an aligned and transparent planning process for opening new schools and campuses and identifying grade configurations in both sectors that considers the full ecosystem of Washington, DC's public schools and supports the vision of a core system of high quality DCPS public schools of right complemented by a set of high- quality public charter and DCPS citywide school options.

We are coming off a period in the city of expanding growth and wealth. We are looking at slow growth and possible declining enrollments as you have noted. There is no location for this school. There are legitimate concerns about investment in the existing 5th through 12 school. The strategy is to market to families in a DCPS or charter school to change and come to their school. This incentivizes mobility and instability.

You have a chance to reject this application for a significant expansion and enter into the agreed upon planning process for a more rational, efficient and effective full system of public education for all families.

[1] https://app.box.com/s/fbo6efjw3iuoy5klkewbwns26y8i8dpj page D25

[2]https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2024-05-06%20BASIS%20DC%20Expansion%20Amendment%20Application.pdf page 14

[3] See full letter copied from https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1156807.page

[4] https://osse.dc.gov/page/2023-24-school-year-enrollment-audit-report-and-data LEA UPSFF Enroll by Spec Need

[5]https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2024-05-06%20BASIS%20DC%20Expansion%20Amendment%20Application.pdf page 3

[6] https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/hEWw76Zsv2 slide 27

[7]https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2024-05-06%20BASIS%20DC%20Expansion%20Amendment%20Application.pdf page 22

[8]https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2024-05-06%20BASIS%20DC%20Expansion%20Amendment%20Application.pdf page 13

[9] https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/hEWw76Zsv2 slide 27

[10] https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/hEWw76Zsv2 slide 18

[11] https://dcgov.app.box.com/v/2023dcboundaryreport page 31