Former DC Councilmember Defends School Choice

By Kevin Chavous

As District of Columbia council member for D.C.’s underserved Ward 7 for 12 years, I began my tenure in 1993, when the District’s public school system was in crisis, especially east of the Anacostia River. In this trying time, half of D.C.’s public school students dropped out and, as a consequence, became prey to the malign influences of the streets. That was when I became an enthusiastic supporter of school choice.

Of course, affluent District residents already had school choice: paying for private school or moving to places like Fairfax and Montgomery counties. But for my constituents, things were different – they had no choice, which was an intolerable inequality. And the District’s chronically neglected traditional public school system did not inspire confidence.

As a council member, I voted for the D.C. School Reform Act, which enabled the first public charter schools to open in the District 20 years ago this year. And what a difference they have made. Publicly funded with local taxpayer money and some federal dollars, tuition-free and open to all District-resident students, they finally opened up choice for my constituents and others, as educational entrepreneurs set up new public schools. Today, they educate 44 percent of all D.C. public school children

One such entrepreneur opened his flagship high school in my political backyard. The neighborhood looked and felt a bit different back then. The Metro station across the road had not yet been built, and the commercial and new residential construction that is beginning to emerge was not in sight. Donald Hense was the charter school pioneer who had the vision and courage to take on an abandoned public schoolhouse, which had become a local illegal-drug-manufacturing facility. All of the plumbing and wiring had been ripped out. 

Today, this college preparatory high school boasts a 92 percent on-time high school graduation rate, higher than the average for District public charter and traditional public schools. Its students have received over $70 million in scholarships, which allows students from low-income families to acquire a college degree: a passport to the middle class.  

All sorts of educational opportunities have been made available to those who can routinely access them in more affluent communities. From Advanced Placement courses, which set a higher academic bar, to the school’s Early College program, in which students earn college credit for taking university-level courses while in high school, real opportunity has been created. Some Friendship students have been accepted to some of the most selective colleges in the country: Princeton, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.

You can see much more clearly the impact of this reform through real-life stories than via statistics. Recently, a student was the third in her family to earn a $150,000 college scholarship. Posse scholarships are merit-based, highly prized and very competitive. Some 30 such students from this campus have earned them. Beyond this, nearly 800 have acquired D.C. Achievers Scholarships to date.

One of the key missions of Friendship Public Charter School has been to create connections between students and the wider community. One such partnership is with the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Mentor Program, which connects students with accomplished professionals in these growing fields, where minorities are chronically under-represented.

Extended learning activities occur after school, complementing time spent learning about these careers onsite at downtown offices. Such are the interventions the school is prepared to take, in light of the fact that African-American scholars currently earn only 1.6 percent of physical science doctorates and 1.8 percent of advanced engineering degrees.  

In Ward 8 — D.C.’s most deprived — revenue bonds and donations were raised to build a state-of-the-art STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math-themed, high school, with an emphasis on environmental sciences.

In Ward 5, two Friendship schools recently achieved International Baccalaureate accreditation, providing a world-class education only available in a minority of public schools.

Today, Friendship educates more than 4,000 students on nine public charter school campuses in the District.

Inspired Martin Luther King Jr., whom Hense met as a student at Morehouse College, he fostered a network of public schools the least-advantaged District children could access. As he steps down as CEO but remains chairman, he is someone who saw problems that he tried to solve rather than wait to be given a job or for someone else to do it. For that, he deserves our community’s thanks.

Kevin Chavous is a former D.C. council member for Ward 7.

Kevin Chavous is a former D.C. council member for Ward 7. Photo: Kevin Chavous