Michael Neibauer is correct that the D.C. Council restored $16.7 million of Mayor Adrian Fenty's proposed cuts to D.C. public charter schools, but he missed a vital point: The mayor proposed to cut charter funding by $24 million. The council reversed 70 percent of the mayor's cuts.
Moreover, Mayor Fenty thought it appropriate that charters, which educate 33 percent of D.C. children, should take 100 percent of his education cuts.
The council subsequently set aside $27.5 million from the budget for the regular public schools, which are run by the mayor, and told his school chancellor that these funds would be available provided that D.C. Public Schools enrollment meets the mayor's projections.
Council Chairman Vincent Gray doubts this will occur, given that charters' enrollment rose almost 6,000 from 2006 to 2008 while enrollment in the city-run schools declined almost 7,500.
Robert Cane
Executive Director
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools