District of Columbia Board of Education considers giving up authority over charter schools

The District of Columbia Board of Education is considering giving up authority over charter schools and transferring oversight of the 18 public charter schools it monitors. The proposal, which does not make clear whom the board would designate, comes in the midst of a federal investigation of its charter school office. "The board right now is inclined to get out of the business of doing the day-to-day oversight and management of charter schools," says board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz. She says the board will consider a proposal under which it would continue to charter schools and close those that need to be shut down, "but we will solicit a university or nonprofit to provide the monitoring of the charter schools." The proposal comes at a time of great uncertainty, as mayoral candidate Arian M. Fenty is talking openly about seeking control of the schools, a move that could affect the existence of the current school board. The plan would require the approval of the D.C. city council and possibly of Congress, which passed the 1996 law permitting charter schools in the District and gave the board authority to open them. The law also created a second chartering board, the D.C. Public Charter School Board (DCPCSB), an appointed panel.

Some school board members and advocates believe it is time for the board, which has been accused of lax charter oversight, to focus on running the city’s 141 traditional public schools. "I think it would be a very good thing for the Board of Education to get out of the chartering business, because they've made a mess of it," says Robert Cane, executive director of the advocacy group Friends of Choice in Urban Schools. However, Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Association, which has 35 member schools, says leaders of 15 of the 18 charter schools approved by the board sent a letter earlier this year stating that they want the board to retain its role. "They would like to report to the authority that the people have elected," she says. "They feel very strongly about that." She says she also is concerned about whether schools were consulted about the decision. "There are 18 existing contracts," she says. "I think they feel that contract is a two-way street and that the schools would have to agree to that."

The school board began laying the possible ground work for relieving itself of oversight in June when it imposed an indefinite moratorium on charter applications. The D.C. charter school office is currently under federal investigation for misuse of public funds. Office administrator Brenda L. Belton was recently fired. Any shift in oversight would mark a major, controversial change, with approximately 25% of D.C.’s students currently attending charter schools. DCPCSB chairman Thomas A. Nida, whose board oversees 37 charter schools with an enrollment of 14,544, says DCPCSB is prepared to take responsibility for the other charters. Some school board members are upset with Ms. Cafritz because she went public with the proposal even though board members had agreed to keep it secret. According to board member Jeff Smith, the board planned to announce it to the public in a way that would allow people to "absorb the information."