Charter Board Prepares for Increased Oversight

The change in the D.C. education system to mayoral control brings with it a bigger role for the D.C. Public Charter School Board in overseeing the independent schools with growing enrollments. The seven-member appointed board now has responsibility for the city's 57 charter schools, rather than sharing the workload with the Board of Education.

Board members will review each of 18 charter schools formerly under the jurisdiction of the local school board to help organize their records and introduce them to the policies of the charter board, including how they will be evaluated under the new system. Executive Director Josephine Baker said the charter board has had information sessions and orientations with the school leaders.

The charter board also has given conditional approval for six charter schools to open in fall 2008.

Charter schools are free and funded by tax dollars but are independently run. The charter board requires that each school have clear academic and financial plans for how it will educate students and manage its budget.

Baker said much of this year will be spent working with the schools to help them "develop accountability plans that will meet the standards that we have for our oversight."

The board is operating on a $2.6 million budget approved for fiscal 2008. It plans to hire four additional staff members to handle the increased workload.

"This is an office of professionals whose attitude is: 'We do what we need to do to get the job done,' " Baker said.

The charter board is relying on more than a strong work ethic. Baker said she has spoken to Victor A. Reinoso, deputy mayor for education, about receiving additional funds. The District is working to transfer about $250,000 to support the transition costs of expanding the board's oversight to all public charter schools, said William Singer, chief of budget execution. The charter board expanded its Columbia Heights offices to the third floor of the historic Tivoli Theater and has been paying rent since March to accommodate the additional staff and to have storage space.

Six charter schools are expanding this month. D.C. Prep in Northeast will open an elementary school across the street; Maya Angelou Public Charter School is opening a middle school east of the Anacostia River; Cesar Chavez will open Chavez Prep with sixth-grade students next month; Hope Community in Northeast is opening a second elementary campus; Apple Tree, an early childhood program focused on literacy, is opening locations in Southeast and Columbia Heights. And KIPP DC has opened its first elementary school, LEAP.

Two new schools are starting up: MEI Futures, which will educate teen mothers and their children, and Hope Academy, a middle school.

Phillips, a special-education charter school that serves District children in the suburbs, was slated to open this fall but has been delayed until a location is found.

The charter board gave conditional approval for six schools (out of 13 applications) to open next year: Excel Academy, an all-girls early intervention school that covers preschool through eighth grade; Imagine Southeast, which includes preschool through eighth grade; middle schools Thea Bowman and Achievement Preparatory academies; Washington Yu Ying, a Chinese immersion school that includes pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and Colin Powell International, which will have a curriculum focused on international affairs. The board will spend this year working with the school to outline next steps before they are ready to open.

With the spotlight on the 55,000 students enrolled in the D.C. school system and new Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, some say charter school issues continue to be ignored. Mark Lerner, chairman of the William E. Doar School for the Performing Arts, who keeps a blog, http://www.marklerner.blogspot.com, related to education and other issues, wrote in a recent post that news coverage of charter school principals is inadequate compared with hiring decisions by Rhee. "With at least 25 percent of all District school children in a charter, why is there not equal coverage regarding leadership changes in these schools?"

The charter board has planned an anniversary celebration this fall to look at a decade of charter schools in the District. The all-volunteer charter board was created by Congress in 1997, with members recommended by the U.S. Secretary of Education and appointed by the mayor for four-year terms.