School Without Walls HSA Request for Restoration of FY2021 Budget
February 13, 2020
The Honorable Muriel Bowser
Mayor, District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 307
Washington, DC 20004Chancellor Lewis Ferebee
District of Columbia Public Schools
1200 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
RE: Restoration of funding proposed to be cut in School Without Walls FY2021 budget
Dear Mayor Bowser and Chancellor Ferebee,
On behalf of our community of 600 students and their families – who come from every ward across the city – the School Without Walls Home & School Association (“SWW HSA”) requests that you reverse $332,673 in proposed cuts to our school’s FY2021 budget.
SWW is the only DCPS high school forecasted to have enrollment equal to last year and still be subject to a budget reduction. While DCPS are raising average school budgets by 8%, the latest SWW budget proposal slashes more than 4% from last year’s baseline. This outcome is directly counter to DCPS leadership public statements and policy.
Our school simply needs a budget that retains the same academic programming levels from last year, for the same number of students.
If you do not restore the requested funds, SWW will need to eliminate three faculty full-time equivalents (FTEs). Based on LSAT review, those cuts would force some combination of failing to offer students a full schedule, increasing class sizes above the DCPS standard, eliminating several Advanced Placement course options that meet elective requirements toward graduation, and sacrificing the theater program. More fundamentally, the impacts undermine the adopted SWW Comprehensive School Plan and the distinctive structure and culture that has led to decades of successful student outcomes.
In fact, the SWW administration already has made approximately $585,000 in staffing reductions and spending shifts to close the bigger gap originally proposed by DCPS. That budget had masked the true depth of cuts by substantially overstating anticipated formula Special Education funds compared to historical eligibility, and which cannot be used to serve the general student population. Those actions will impact the education experience of our students by eliminating five roles: librarian, instructional coach, media specialist, social worker, and custodian.
The Mayor’s promise that “Across all eight wards our goal is the same: to make sure every student and every school has the resources they need to succeed” will be empty if $3.08 per student, per school day, cannot be found to maintain the status quo at a high-performing school serving families from every ward. The DCPS vision for academic excellence is not advanced when a high school nationally-recognized for college readiness must increase class size beyond standards, eliminate librarian services, reduce AP course offerings, or fail to fully schedule students.
Again, we are not seeking new resources beyond what is required to deliver the same level of service to the same number of students as last year. Providing the requested funds still will leave SWW at a lower per capita funding level than the average DCPS school.
In a period of solid fiscal standing and increasing expenditures across DCPS, students and parents at School Without Walls only ask our Mayor and Chancellor to do no harm.
SWW parents and students will participate in upcoming scheduled hearings and other opportunities to reinforce our request. However, if this issue is not favorably resolved, the HSA also expects City and DCPS leadership to attend our next general meeting on March 11 in order to explain your rationale to our entire community.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sandra Moscoso,
President
Tomeika Bowden,
At-Large
Malene Lawrence,
At-Large
Maan Sacdalan,
At-Large
Marek Gootman,
Vice President
Shandrika Donawana
Johnkins, At-Large
Andrea Marryshow,
At-Large
Marla Viorst,
At-Large
Gina Lynn Anderson,
Treasurer
Elizabeth Dranitzke,
At-Large
Yair Oren,
At-Large
Joe Weedon,
At-Large
Brooke Haywood Hack,
Secretary
Marco Gonzalez,
At-Large
Leslie Pace,
At-Large