About The Project
In 1999, DC Appleseed released a report on public school governance which recommended reorganizing the DC Board of Education and also considered the separation of state and local education functions. Since then, the charter school population in the District has grown so that more than 15% of DC public school students attend charter schools. The growth of charter schools (as well as recent federal education law) has increased the need for better communication to parents about their education options -- a need that has not been met under the current system. Furthermore, because the charter schools compete with DCPS for students and funding, a conflict of interest exists when DCPS acts as the state education agency. As a result, the City Council passed the State Education Office Establishment Act of 2000, which created a State Education Office (SEO) and mandated that ten functions be evaluated for transfer. The SEO and DCPS submitted conflicting recommendations regarding these ten functions.
DC Appleseed's School Governance project team reconvened to consider which education functions should remain administered as they are currently and which might benefit from change. The Project Team completed a detailed analysis of this issue. In October 2003, a summary of these findings were submitted in a letter to the Council, the District's State Education Officer, and President of the Board of Education. This letter recommends the transfer of certain functions, but also urges further study of costs and development of an effective transition plan. It also provides a legal analysis of whether a charter amendment is needed in order to transfer education functions.
