A Costly Charter School Failure

$15 Million Special-Ed Plan Was Designed to Save Money

The reddish-brick building sits vacant on a tree-lined lot in Northeast Washington, a three-story monument to a failed experiment to bring down the exorbitant costs of special education in the District.

Five years ago, the former seminary on Taylor Street became a public charter school for children with severe emotional disturbances. Officials from the school system and the city's youth services agencies enthusiastically endorsed the plan, seeing an opportunity to reduce the $40 million annual cost of sending such children to private facilities as far away as California and Utah.

The D.C. Council also liked the idea -- and provided an unusual emergency allocation of $9.2 million so the charter school could increase its staff and convert the building to a 24-hour treatment facility.

But instead of saving D.C. taxpayers money, the Jos-Arz Therapeutic Public Charter School turned into a costly failure. Jos-Arz, embroiled in a political battle between the council and the school board, enrolled fewer than half the number of students projected and never received enough money to complete renovations. In June, the school moved out of its home on Taylor Street because it could not keep up with the rent, and the school board is considering revoking its charter.

In all, Jos-Arz received about $15 million in city funds, of which $2.3 million was used for renovation expenses, former officials from the school say. Although there is sharp debate over who is to blame, everyone involved agrees that the city's investment essentially was wasted.

"We spent a whole lot of money, and what do we have to show for it? Nothing," said former council member Kevin P. Chavous, one of the school's early supporters.

Now Jos-Arz, which has dropped its residential program and is sharing space with a traditional public school, is at the center of another debate -- this one focusing on the fate of the empty Taylor Street building.

The nonprofit organization that owns the property has put it up for sale, entertaining offers from developers who would convert it into condominiums or senior citizen housing. But some school and city officials argue that they have a stake in the building, given the substantial public funds that went into Jos-Arz.

"To sell the building is criminal," said school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz. "We've paid for the building many times over, and I think the city should move in the courts to get the building."

Jos-Arz's struggles stem partly from a student referral process that proved more complicated than the school's administrators had anticipated. But they can also be traced to a political standoff between the council, which wanted to fully fund Jos-Arz's expansion, and the Cafritz-led board, which did not trust the school's financial management.

In the early days, the plans of Jos-Arz founders Rollie and Gwendolyn Kimbrough resonated strongly with both city and school officials.

The school board granted Jos-Arz's application to open a charter school to serve up to 70 residential and 120 day students.