DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson offered a glimpse yesterday of how savings from school closures will be reinvested next year at the first public hearing of the newly reinstated DC Council Committee for Education. But it looks like specific funding changes will not be known until DCPS releases the budgets for each local school for next year, which is expected to occur in March.
The DCPS closure plan, released last week, notes that the annual savings will be $8.5 million, which is consistent with the savings projected by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and Mary Levy. It is relatively small — only one percent of the total school budget — and next year’s savings may be insignificant because of transition costs.
So, what specific strategies does DCPS have in store for schools next year to improve the academic quality of DC Public Schools? During the hearing, the Chancellor mentioned plans to better match resources to high priority schools, focus spending more on instructional activities, and exert more control over the scheduling and staffing of individual schools. DCPS also is considering a larger academic strategy that may include art, music, and PE for every elementary student, targeted literacy interventions, world language offerings at elementary school level, and access to library services.
It looks like the devil will be in the details, or in this case, the budget allocations to each school to be released in March. This will offer a clearer view of how DCPS funds are being focused to boost quality and outcomes. One positive sign is that DCPS is looking to extend the timeline between when schools receive their initial allocations and when final budgets are due. This will allow for school leaders and Local School Advisory Teams (LSATs) to have more time for critical budgeting decisions.
We at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute hope that DCPS will use the annual school budgeting process to target resources to support the goal of improving outcomes in the city’s lowest-performing schools. Like many parents and principals, we eagerly await the release of the school budgets for next year.
