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 on DC PCSB’s performance in fiscal year 2025. I am Dr. Michelle Walker-Davis, Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board. I am joined today by our Chief School Performance Officer, Melodi Sampson, and our Chief Operating Officer, Will Henderson.

 As the sole authorizer of public charter schools in the District—and as we mark the 30th anniversary of public charter schools in Washington, DC—DC PCSB ensures that every public charter school delivers a high-quality education to its students. For three decades, we have upheld this responsibility by monitoring compliance and conducting rigorous oversight in areas such as academic performance, health and safety, finance, and governance. 

Our oversight practices are published in our policies and reports, which we make available to the public on our website, DCPCSB.org. These documents are meant to inform the public about how we work; they are also living documents, which we update based on feedback from charter school leaders, families, and city education leaders.

I want to focus for a minute on that second group—public charter families—because ultimately all of DC PCSB’s oversight work is to improve their experience. Sitting with them and listening to their hopes and aspirations for their students is one of the most rewarding experiences. We are glad these families live in a city with so many public school choices, and at DC PCSB, we are grateful to be a part of the village it takes to raise resilient, happy, and successful young adults. We are equally proud to support adult learners across our sector who are continuing their education, building new skills, and modeling lifelong learning for the next generation.

Policies and reports are critical components of our oversight, but cannot substitute for direct, in-person engagement to understand what is happening in public charter school classrooms. A great example of such engagement is the Qualitative Site Review process, or QSRs, which includes visiting classrooms, reviewing students’ schoolwork, and checking special education and multilingual learner services. 

QSRs are hardly our only in-person engagements. Since the start of FY25, I’ve visited 30 different public charter schools. Each school had its own story to tell, its own programs and teaching models to highlight, and its own set of challenges. But I frequently find myself with a single conclusion: charter education in the District is thriving. Every day, public charter schools make possible the kind of learning environments where students are known, challenged, and inspired—where innovation meets high expectations, and opportunity is not theoretical but lived in classrooms across the city. 

DC’s public charter schools continue to make strides since the pandemic, increasing sector-wide English language arts and math scores by 3% last year. Schools also continue to make improvements in chronic absenteeism and truancy rates from the prior school year. 

I can hear the Chairman thinking, “go farther, be faster,” so, for the record, we agree. FY25 was just the start of our 3-year Strategic Roadmap, which will guide our work in three areas: Excellent Schools, Enduring Partnerships, and Effective Organization. Let me say a word about each priority area.

Under the Excellent Schools priority, I am glad to report that DC PCSB rolled out our revised academic accountability system, ASPIRE. Doing so involved updating our core oversight policies and strengthening the use of performance, growth, and equity data to inform renewal, intervention, and continuous improvement. We held learning opportunities, office hours, and working sessions to help school leaders and data teams understand the revisions and frameworks. We also connected academic accountability with student engagement by adding chronic absenteeism to ASPIRE’s School Environment category.

Under the Enduring Partnerships priority, DC PCSB deepened and expanded its engagement with families, school leaders, community organizations, and District agencies. We created more meaningful opportunities for public comment, delivered targeted technical assistance, convened professional learning communities, and worked side by side with partners to navigate citywide challenges affecting schools. This was not just increased activity—it was a more intentional, coordinated approach to building trust, strengthening collaboration, and ensuring schools had the support they needed to serve students well. 

The 2025-26 school year began under the shadow of an unprecedented federal occupation of DC, raising real concerns about the safety and well-being of students, families, and staff. DC PCSB hosted a virtual public safety town hall to help public charter school communities communicate and coordinate. This effort was carried out in close partnership with other District agencies, and with the DC Charter School Alliance playing a key role in supporting school leaders and families. Our Community Engagement Team, which supported the town hall, continues to field questions and concerns from families and community members to learn about safety and other challenges facing schools. We are committed to using this feedback to guide where, when, and how we show up. 

Under the Effective Organization priority, DC PCSB worked to improve its internal systems, make key processes more transparent and predictable, and give the public more access to financial information. At the same time, we took on the significant work of addressing longstanding data challenges rooted in outdated infrastructure—modernizing and enhancing our systems to meet the increased complexity required by the ASPIRE System. This includes building a stronger, more reliable data foundation to power ASPIRE, ensuring charter leaders have fast, accurate information to make informed decisions that improve the school experience for students and families.

In FY25, DC PCSB made several changes to its charter review and renewal process based on our own reflections and feedback from school leaders, the charter community, and this Council. DC PCSB changed its internal timelines so review and renewal decisions happen earlier, giving families important information about their school’s status before the My School DC Lottery deadlines. We also made changes to give schools more time to implement and meet conditions that may be given during the review and renewal process. This change is aimed at giving schools a fair chance to make the changes we all want to see without lowering our accountability standards.

In FY25, DC PCSB also worked to clarify and make financial oversight more transparent, so families and school leaders can easily access information about the financial health of their public charter school. In response to feedback, including from this body, DC PCSB staff now give regular updates on financial oversight during monthly Board meetings, sharing information about schools that may need extra monitoring or support. We have also made more financial information available to the public on our website through the “Transparency Hub.” DC PCSB posts and updates lists of LEAs on the Financial Monitoring List, LEAs with Citations of Fiscal Concern, and LEAs under Financial Corrective Action Plans or FCAPs. 

I am proud of what we accomplished in year one of our Strategic Roadmap and the foundation we have laid for stronger accountability, deeper partnerships, and a more effective organization in the years ahead. 

That progress, however, depends on sustained investment. Strategy matters, but investment determines impact. A weakened budget would limit the very gains we are working to deliver for students. 

Thank you to the Mayor and this Council for your support in FY25 and FY26. As we look to FY27, this is not the moment to pull back from public education—especially not from the charter sector. Public charter schools serve nearly half of DC’s students and more than half of the District’s economically disadvantaged students. Maintaining strong UPSFF funding—and placing all public education dollars through the UPSFF—is essential to preserving equity, stability, and opportunity for the families who rely on our schools every day. 

We also have three specific, urgent funding priorities. 

First, we need a dedicated, sustainable funding stream for lead water testing. This Council has sometimes found additional funds to cover the cost of this work, but when that has not happened, DC PCSB has been left to shoulder the cost—a solution for which we do not budget and which threatens other health, safety, and oversight priorities. The Department of General Services covers this expense for DCPS, meaning public schools do not pay out of pocket. Public charter schools and the families they serve deserve the same assurance of safe drinking water. Without a permanent funding source, we risk failing to meet this basic health and safety responsibility.

Second, St. Coletta Special Education PCS requires adequate funding to meet the complex needs of students with disabilities. These students deserve a funding model that reflects the intensity of services they require.

Third, our adult learners need increased transportation support. The current $70 monthly allocation is no longer sufficient given rising fares. If we are serious about supporting adult students on their path to graduation and economic mobility, we must ensure they can afford to get to and from school. 

Thank you again, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee, for your commitment to an equitable education system. My team and I are happy to answer any questions.