Testimony of Dr. Michelle J. Walker-Davis, Executive Director DC Public Charter School Board

Hearing on Charter School Review and Renewal in the District

Committee of the Whole

October 22, 2025

Good afternoon, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee of the Whole. I am Dr. Michelle Walker-Davis, the Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB), the authorizer of public charter schools in the District. I am joined today by our Board Chair, Shantelle Wright, and am grateful for the opportunity to testify on our agency’s review and renewal processes.

I know the Chairman prefers witnesses to testify in person, and I appreciate his indulgence today as we join remotely from the leadership conference hosted by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

As this committee knows, DC PCSB’s authority is grounded in the School Reform Act, or SRA, a law enacted in 1996. The SRA sets the process for DC PCSB to grant charters and, critically, requires us to renew them every 15 years. The SRA also lays out the requirements for such renewals. First, a school must not have broken any laws or violated any terms and conditions of its charter. Second, a school must have met the goals and academic achievement expectations set forth in its charter. I want to emphasize here that the SRA does not grant us discretion on either point. If a public charter school violates the law or fails to meet its charter goals, DC PCSB cannot renew that school’s charter. Think of our 15-year renewals as pass-fail exams.

Fifteen years between renewals is a long time, and in the interim, the SRA requires DC PCSB to review each public charter school at least once every five years to assess academic performance, charter compliance, and financial health. Unlike with the 15-year renewals, DC PCSB has some discretion with the five-year reviews. If a school is doing well, our Board can vote to “continue” the school, with the expectation that it will continue to do well and improve. If a school is struggling to meet its commitments, the Board can vote to continue the school with certain conditions or performance expectations. And in an extreme case, the Board can vote to begin the charter revocation process.

I also want to be clear that if DC PCSB sees evidence of financial mismanagement or potential insolvency, we will take immediate action outside of the standard review and renewal cycle, including beginning the charter revocation process if necessary.

What are we looking at during these reviews and renewals? The simplest answer is that we measure a school against its own charter goals, or the set of commitments the school made in return for autonomy. Many public charter schools adopted our previous academic accountability system as their charter goals. We’re hopeful many will adopt ASPIRE, our current academic accountability system.

As you have heard me say before, DC PCSB built ASPIRE over years of collaboration with school leaders, educators, families, and community members. ASPIRE centers growth, equity, and opportunity while giving the public a clear view of how schools are serving their students. It goes beyond a single test score, using multiple measures like student growth, achievement, attendance, re-enrollment, and school climate to provide a fuller picture of what’s working well. When we begin publishing ASPIRE data next year, anybody with Internet access can review how well public charter schools serve their students.

In addition to the accountability measures embedded in ASPIRE, we also give schools the opportunity to adopt unique charter goals. This recognizes that ASPIRE may not be the best fit for every mission, student population, or operational model. This flexibility allows schools to work toward a goal that better aligns with their mission and their students.

As I mentioned, the SRA gives DC PCSB some discretion during the five-year reviews, including the ability to use conditions that help a school make progress toward its charter goals. But when a school continues to struggle to meet those goals—even after every effort has been made—the SRA also outlines the process the Board must follow, which can include charter revocation. Chair Wright will speak more to this, but I want to say for the record: this is the hardest part of our job. Our agency is filled with former teachers and school leaders who understand firsthand what it takes to build and sustain a school community. We know that when a school closes, it’s not just the end of an operation, it’s the end of a dream, and it brings real pain to students, families, educators, and communities.

The past few years have added even more complexity to this work. We are still feeling the pandemic’s impacts, including having fewer than five years of available data. We have also seen three schools make the difficult decision to relinquish their charters over the past two years. One school, facing financial insolvency, made this decision outside of a formal review process, while two others did so during a review cycle. These were not easy moments for us as an authorizer; I know they were even more challenging for students, families, and school leadership. In response, I asked DC PCSB staff to carefully examine our operations, timelines, and communications to identify opportunities for improvement. I’m pleased to share a few changes we’ve implemented that will strengthen the process moving forward.

First, we are engaging school leaders and trustees earlier and more consistently, sharing information on major milestones, and the types of conditions our staff may recommend for continuance. We are increasing our communications with schools through multiple channels—meetings, phone calls, emails, school visits, and written materials—to provide clear guidance on the process, key contacts, and critical deadlines.

We also lengthened the timeframe for schools to meet conditions placed upon them, meaning no public charter school will be asked to achieve certain milestones within the same school year that conditions are placed.

And in response to public concerns, including from this committee, we will begin our review cycle earlier, with My School DC Lottery deadlines in mind. We are working with the Superintendent’s office to receive all relevant data and working with schools to validate well ahead of the 2026-2027 lottery deadlines, so families have information to support their enrollment decisions.

Finally, I want to thank Councilmember Henderson for introducing the Board of Trustees Training Amendment Act and your Committee’s leadership in working with us to strengthen and pass the bill this summer. DC PCSB supported the bill—which requires annual governance training for public charter school trustees members because we know school boards play a vital role in identifying and addressing challenges early, before they escalate. We are actively working to implement this law and have already started offering training to board members, with full implementation starting next school year.

These changes will strengthen our work and the charter sector, by giving school leaders more time and transparency and by giving public charter families more predictability and peace of mind. We also know there is more to do, and we are committed to working with you to make our processes better for those whom we serve.

I thank you again for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward to your questions.