PCSB Executive Director Responds to Capitol Hill Parent Organization Founder

By Scott Pearson, Executive Director, DC Public Charter School Board 

The Washington Post published the following letter by Suzanne Wells in response to a Post op-ed I co-authored: 

March 27

In the March 22 Local Opinions commentary “Why charters need traditional schools,” the executive director and the former chairman of the D.C. Public Charter School Board claimed, “We believe that the balance we have, with a thriving public charter sector and strong traditional schools, is about right.” It is unclear what they believe should happen now that “the balance . . . is about right.”

It seems clear that the charter board won’t stop approving new schools. It has approved an average of six a year. The District has 112 public charter schools, and three will open this fall. One, Washington Global Middle School, will open about a third of a mile from Jefferson Middle School and offer a substantially similar program. In May, the board will vote on whether to open six more schools in 2016. The balance won’t be “about right” for long.

Parents and public education supporters have been advocating for joint planning by D.C. Public Schools and the D.C. Public Charter School Board before charter schools are opened. Many believe we are spreading our education dollars too thin by opening charter schools that duplicate the services found in existing schools.

It is up to the D.C. Council and the mayor to require comprehensive planning before District taxpayers are asked to fund the opening of public charter schools.

Suzanne Wells, Washington

It is true that the DC Public Charter School Board has approved 17 new charter schools since 2012.  But we have also closed 18 charter schools in this same timeframe.   The result is that enrollment at DC public charter schools is growing more slowly than ever.  Indeed this year, for the first time ever, the charter school market share stayed flat – at 44%.

As the number of students in the District grows, charters are growing, to serve some -- but not all -- of the new students.   The rough balance looks set to last for a very long time.

The extraordinary turnaround in public school enrollment, from a 50-year slide to steady growth, cannot be taken for granted.  It has occurred because both charters and DCPS have been offering parents more quality school choices.  If we stop offering parents the schools they want, many will leave, as they have before.

Far from “spreading our education dollars too thin”, public charter schools offer the city remarkable value.  They produce better academic results and graduation rates while spending thousands of dollars less per pupil than DCPS.  And their school buildings typically cost a quarter to a half of comparable DCPS buildings. 

We embrace collaborative planning.  It has already produced such benefits as the My School DC common lottery and citywide equity reports.  And it can do much more.  But if “planning” is a code word for a centralized system that would restrict the growth of innovative and quality school choices, it’s a bad bargain for DC’s families.  

Scott Pearson is the Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board. 

By Scott Pearson, Executive Director, DC Public Charter School Board