There are many education bills under consideration by the DC Council. Today, the District’s Dime will focus on the ins and outs of the Comprehensive Planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act of 2013, which is likely next in line for mark-up by the Committee on Education.
The District’s public charter schools have a great demand for buildings, but advocates say the current process of trying to transfer unused DCPS facilities to charter schools is difficult and lacks transparency. This bill would make it much easier for public charter schools to move into facilities not being used by DC Public Schools.
What This Bill Would Do:
- Calls for an annual review of school facilities across DC public schools (DCPS) and establishes a process to declare surplus DCPS buildings no longer needed for classroom, instruction, swing space or administrative purposes. The District’s Department of General Services (DGS) would determine which DCPS properties are considered surplus and keep a list of such properties online.
- Requires DCPS Chancellor to submit an “Educational Facilities Plan” every year to describe DCPS facility needs for the next five years and offer recommendations on whether or not vacant properties will be needed in the near future.
- High-performing and financially sound public charter schools would be given the “right of first offer,” or the first pick of surplus DCPS facilities to buy or sign a long-term lease
DCFPI Concerns about the Bill:
- The proposed bill would declare as surplus 12 DCPS properties, many of which were closed this past year. If the intent of this bill is to strengthen the disposition process, then this decision should be left to DCPS and DGS.
- The bill appears to streamline the process only for charter schools without adequately addressing other potential uses of surplus facilities.
- The proposed bill also would allow the Public Charter School Board to sue the District on behalf of a public charter school if the Chancellor or DGS does not comply with the first-offer requirement. This could lead to a substantial amount of litigation and would put the burden mostly on DCPS to show why facilities should remain in their inventory. There can be other less disruptive and contentious ways to ensure that excess DCPS facilities are offered to charter schools or put into other productive uses.
DCFPI Recommendations to Strengthen Legislation:
- Creation of a comprehensive facilities plan for both DCPS and DC public charter schools that would be used to determine what are the overall educational facility needs, rather than focus on how DCPS buildings can be turned over to charter schools.
- More flexibility for DCPS to reclaim properties in the future, if there is a need, after they are leased to private entities.
- More specific ways to make the disposition process more transparent, beyond requiring the list of surplus properties to be published.
- An appropriate avenue to express how a vacant DCPS property should be used, and a thoughtful process to determine how the city might use the surplus facilities to meet a neighborhood’s most pressing needs.
As this legislation moves through committee to the full Council, DCFPI is hopeful that many of these recommendations along with other community feedback will be incorporated into the final legislation.
To publish a copy of today’s blog, click here.
