D.C. Superintendent to Propose Closing 19 More Schools

"To me, it is crystal clear they were to eliminate the space, not just identify space," the board member said, adding that the system already has enough empty buildings it can use to accommodate students who need to be moved during construction. "I think the Congress and council will be clear on the interpretation, and it's not going to be favorable."

Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), who heads the education committee, said she was dismayed by the prospect of staggering the closings.

"Our understanding was, [the school system] would significantly reduce the inventory so they could plug those dollars back into the classroom," Patterson said.

"It's been the council's assumption there would be a significant downsizing by 2008. If the school system is moving away from that, I would be concerned, and I expect my colleagues to be concerned as well," she said.

In the past, several members of Congress who oversee the District had endorsed the closings as a solution to the space crunch experienced at public charter schools.

A spokesman for Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who serves on the D.C. appropriations subcommittee, said the panel members could not comment on the apparent delay because they hadn't seen Janey's proposal. But the spokesman said in an e-mail that the senator "supports the board's plan to close an additional 2 million square feet by next summer."

Charter schools spend about $16 million a year on leases in the commercial market, and members of Congress had suggested that the money could stay in the public sector if the charters leased space in defunct traditional public school buildings.

Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, a charter school advocacy organization, said he was "disappointed and upset" at the possibility of not getting the buildings in 2008.

"If this is the case, the superintendent is not acting in a way to justify the faith the council put in him when they gave him the $2 billion for his program," Cane said.

Staff writer Theola Labbé contributed to this report.