Board Releases Survey Findings on DC Public Charter School Facilities

DCPCSB recently completed a facilities survey of 62 public charter school nonprofits in Washington, DC, which collectively operate 115 schools in 109 separate facilities.  Some of the findings were deeply disturbing:

  • 12% of the schools disagreed or strongly disagreed that their current facility “supports the school’s academic mission”
  • 11% of the schools had safety concerns about their building
  • A disturbing 44% of schools were concerned with the adequacy of their health and fitness areas; more than a quarter of the schools don’t have appropriate space for a school nurse.

These survey results confirm what anyone associated with DC’s public charter schools knows: too many students attend schools in substandard facilities. 

Meanwhile the city holds onto more than a dozen school buildings that sit empty, or are used as warehouses or administrative spaces, refusing to lease them to public charter schools.

The fiscal waste is nearly as disturbing as the condition of the schools.  Our survey revealed that public charter schools spend over $15 million on rent paid to private landlords.  If these schools were in city building, they would be paying that rent to the city.   And that public charter school would pay to maintain the building, rather than the district’s Department of General Services spending tens of millions of dollars to maintain empty school buildings.

The poor facilities conditions of many of of DC’ public charter schools is quite visible.  There are public charter schools:

  • In church basements;
  • Co-located with a CVS drug store;
  • Forced to hold recess in a parking lot or on a sidewalk; or
  • In nearly windowless converted warehouses. 

As this survey indicates, the facilities issue continues to be a significant problem for Washington DC’s public charter schools.

View the report here.   

DCPCSB recently completed a facilities survey of 62 public charter school nonprofits in Washington, DC, which collectively operate 115 schools in 109 separate facilities.