Shortchanging charter schools

OPINION:

A supplemental budget request currently being floated by D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray on behalf of Mayor Adrian Fenty has the potential to harm the nearly 22,000 students enrolled in 55 charter schools by denying them millions of dollars in school funding. As it stands, some legal analysts say the supplemental request endorsed by Mr. Gray and Mr. Fenty would illegally bypass the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula for Public Schools and Public Charters Schools Act of 1998, which requires equal spending for both charter and non-charter students on a per-pupil basis.

This means that charter students could be denied their share of up to $76.2 million in city funds outlined in the supplemental request, a move that could deny up to $1,550 per pupil during fiscal 2008. That adds up to some $34.1 million that charter students could be denied if this budget supplemental comes through, according to charter-school advocates. This move is the latest development in a tenuous relationship between charter schools and the public-school establishment, where many view their charter-school counterparts in a hostile, adversarial manner.

This move has understandably triggered alarm among charter-school proponents, particularly the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, which is rightly working to halt this supplemental in its tracks. While we applaud the Fenty administration for rooting out the corruption and waste rampant within the District’s school system, we urge Mr. Gray and Mr. Fenty to withdraw this misguided proposal, or to rewrite the language to include allowances for charter students. As is, the supplemental would deny crucial monies for the charter-school students who deserve equal access to the educational opportunities afforded their peers.