Testimony of Dr. Michelle J. Walker-Davis, Executive Director DC Public Charter School Board

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Testimony of Dr. Michelle J. Walker-Davis, Executive Director DC Public Charter School Board

Good morning Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee of the Whole. Thank you for the opportunity to testify at today's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Oversight Hearing. I am Dr. Michelle Walker-Davis, Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB), and I am joined by Will Henderson, our Chief Operating Officer.

I first want to commend Mayor Bowser for her continued commitment to public education. It is an achievement to increase education funding in good times; it is a real triumph to do so when times get tougher. And given the year DC has had, I am grateful to the Mayor for prioritizing a 2.55 percent increase in the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF). I wish the Mayor's budget had run all school funding through the UPSFF-and I'll come back to that-but I want to be sure to give credit where it is due. In her final budget, the Mayor delivered for the District's public education institutions.

I use that word deliberately because institutions are precisely what public charter schools have become. Our oldest public charter school turned 30 this year and over the past three decades, generations of public charter school students have studied, graduated, and raised families here in the District. Many of these students now teach at the same schools, where they are inspiring the next generation of engineers, social workers, business owners, and public servants.

Like the sector, the DC PCSB has grown and evolved over the years to meet the needs of the moment. We are currently in the process of developing our financial oversight policy, for one thing. But there is no better example than our academic accountability system, ASPIRE, the culmination of years of reviewing, revising, and refining.

ASPIRE will help guide our oversight and lead to faster, better decision-making, but it won't just help DC PCSB. ASPIRE will empower families across the District, giving them access to information about public charter school performance in areas like college & career readiness, proficiency, and growth. And the most exciting news about ASPIRE is that the results are live right now.

But today's hearing is fundamentally about the mayor's FY27 budget and its impact on our agency and the charter sector at large. And as much as we are grateful to the Mayor for the proposed UPSFF increase, I would be remiss if I did not raise three concerns.

First, the Mayor's budget proposes to shift $60 million in DC Public Schools (DCPS) facilities costs to the Department of General Services (DGS). Doing so would bring the total operating funds outside the UPSFF to $96 million, or roughly $2,000 per student. Students in DCPS and public charter schools face the same graduation requirements. They take the same statewide assessments with the same proficiency requirements. But under the Mayor's proposal, a DCPS school of 350 students would receive $700,000 more for staff and programming than a public charter school of the same size.

Second, the budget would compound this inequity by proposing almost $556 million for capital improvements across DCPS and roughly $187 million for public charter schools. And while the budget would increase facilities funding for DCPS, it would freeze the charter school facilities allotment for the next four fiscal years-placing additional financial burdens on public charter schools to cover essential facilities costs. I want to be very clear that I do not oppose additional resources to modernize and improve DCPS schools. In fact, I support them. My only question is this: why aren't public charter schools offered the same?

Finally, the Mayor's budget does not provide any funding for St. Coletta or lead testing, two critical needs that cannot continue to be overlooked. As you know, St. Coletta is located in Ward 7 and serves students with intensive disabilities. And as I have testified before, the school requires additional funding to support its full programming and meet student needs. Similarly, while DC PCSB and DGS conduct lead testing across public charter schools and neighborhood schools respectively, only DGS receives dedicated funding for this essential public health function. This disparity leaves a significant gap in ensuring safe drinking water for all students. In both cases, I strongly urge the Council to find a sustainable source of revenue to address these ongoing inequities.

Over the past three decades, public charter schools in the District have evolved from courageous pioneers to community pillars. They educate nearly half of our city's public school students and are deeply rooted in the neighborhoods they serve.

Let me close by urging the Council to build on the Mayor's commitment to public education by ensuring that all public school students are funded fairly and equitably, regardless of school or sector. The UPSFF was designed to be the foundation of that fairness. It says so in its name. As you consider the FY27 budget, please address the inequities in operating and facilities funds and provide dedicated support for critical needs like St. Coletta and lead testing.

I thank you for your time and your leadership, and I look forward to your questions.