Arts Plan Could Cause Funding Gap, Study Says
D.C. Schools Chancellor Pushes Rigid Financing

By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

In the midst of a contentious and politically turbulent first year as D.C. schools chancellor, Michelle A. Rhee drew near-universal acclaim with one goal: to place music, art and physical education instructors in all public schools.

But a study by a coalition of public education advocates says that the rigid financial formula Rhee imposed to fulfill that promise would trigger unintended consequences -- including teacher shortages, large class sizes and per-pupil funding gaps between some schools in low- and high-income areas of the city.

"This has made bad matters worse," said Iris Toyer, chairperson of Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools, which joined the 21st Century School Fund, the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators in producing the analysis of school budget documents.

If classes began today, the study found, Garrison Elementary in Ward 2, where 77 percent of the students are from low-income households, would have an average class size of 30 students per teacher -- exceeding the limit of 25 specified in the city's contract with the Washington Teachers' Union. Stoddert Elementary in Ward 3, where 23 percent of the children live in low-income families, would have 23 students per teacher. The gap in per-pupil funding would also be significant, according the analysis: $8,025 per student at Stoddert and $6,064 at Garrison.

The study also shows six other elementary schools, King and Patterson (Ward 8) Burrville (Ward 7), Shaed (Ward 5) and Bancroft and Tubman (Ward 1) would be short three to five classroom teachers under the new budgeting system.

"They'll have less than they need and less than they're entitled to," said Mary Levy, school budget analyst for the Public Education Reform Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "There may be schools with very large classes."

In a letter to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) last week, the group expressed "alarm" at school budgets for the upcoming year and urged him to ensure that "DCPS does not further disadvantage children who are already disadvantaged."

Mafara Hobson, Rhee's spokeswoman, said the study is flawed because it is based on preliminary budget data now under revision. She said numerous "corrections and adjustments" have been made and will be announced soon. Those changes will include additional staff and funds and will be based on petitions from school communities that have appealed their initial budgets.

"Both Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee are committed to ensuring that classrooms across the District are fully staffed to fully meet the needs of our students," Hobson said.

The D.C. Council funds public schools according to a uniform per-pupil rate, currently $8,770. Officials allocate the money as they see fit, and for the last decade have applied a weighted formula that funded schools based on student needs. Schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families, or with limited English skills, for example, generally drew higher per-pupil allocations.

The "weighted student formula" has gained favor in many big-city school districts in recent years to ensure that dollars follow children, regardless of where they enroll.

Rhee contended that many schools were ill-served by the funding method. In her view, the system gave too much power to principals who sometimes made questionable staffing decisions. It also penalized some low-enrollment schools unable to generate sufficient per-pupil revenue to maintain quality academic programs.

To ensure music, art and physical education instruction in every building -- which Rhee said she regards as an essential right for all schoolchildren -- Rhee replaced the weighted formula with a model that directed dollars according to a set of specific staffing requirements.

Other school districts in the region, including Fairfax and Montgomery, use forms of the staffing model.

But researchers say that rigid enrollment cut-offs established as part of the D.C. system have created inequities. Schools with less than 250 students such as Garrison -- it projects 242 for the fall -- will share part-time music, art and physical education teachers and librarians with other schools. Schools tipping just over the 250 mark such as Stoddert -- it estimates 251 -- will receive each of those positions on a full-time basis.

The more staff, the more money a school accrues, raising its per-pupil allocation. The differences between Stoddert and Garrison amount to $240,000, or $961 per student.

"DCPS struggled with inequities under the weighted student formula, but in the current effort to make staffing equal at all schools, the evidence shows that DCPS has created greater funding inequities than before," the report said.

Levy said that there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to some of the staffing patterns. In instances where there are shortages of classroom teachers, the staffing model apparently was not followed. Some schools, including Mann, Lafayette, Murch and Janney elementary in Ward 3 and Thomas Elementary in Ward 7, have two to four more teachers than they should be allocated under the plan.

The new staffing model, as currently constituted, also eliminates counselors from elementary schools and some secondary schools.

Details of the budget study can be found at http://www.21csf.org/csf%2Dhome/datashop.asp.