Enrollment Ceiling Increase - KIPP DC PCS

March 21, 2016

The District of Columbia Public Charter School Board (“DC PCSB”) announces an opportunity for the public to submit comment on a request submitted by KIPP DC Public Charter School (“KIPP DC PCS”) on January 29, 2016 to increase its existing enrollment ceiling and to reconfigure the grade levels at two of its existing campuses.

KIPP DC PCS began operation in 2001, and currently serves students in grades pre-kindergarten-3 through twelfth. The local education agency (“LEA”) currently operates 15 campuses that are organized in five clusters of pre-kindergarten through eighth grade programs, and also operates a high school campus. According to the unaudited enrollment count conducted for school year 2015-2016, KIPP DC PCS currently serves 5,201 students. 

The LEA is requesting to increase its enrollment by a total of 328 students beginning in SY 2016-2017, and by SY 2020-2021, the LEA is requesting an ultimate enrollment ceiling of 6584 students, which is a total increase of 458 students based on the school’s existing enrollment ceiling.  The need for an enrollment ceiling increase is due to the fact that KIPP DC PCS is planning to open new grades at three of its existing schools (Spring, Northeast and Valor Academies) and to expand the size of its high school classes at the College Preparatory campus. KIPP DC PCS is also requesting a campus-level grades reconfiguration at its LEAP campus. During SY 2014-2015, KIPP DC PCS’s Benning facility had the following campuses and respective grades: LEAP Academy with PK3-K, Promise Academy with 1-4, and KEY Academy with 5-8. For SY 2015-2016, KIPP DC PCS shifted the Kindergarten from LEAP to Promise Academy. This shift was reflected in the MySchoolDC lottery profiles posted online for both schools, and it is currently the grades configuration reflected in DC PCSB’s enrollment database.  Therefore, KIPP DC PCS simply wants to ensure the accurate grade configurations are recorded in its current charter agreement.

Pursuant to the School Reform Act, D.C. Code 38-1802 et seq., a charter school must submit a petition to revise its charter, which includes its enrollment ceiling and grades configurations.