The District of Columbia Council will get its first crack at Mayor Adrian Fenty’s fiscal 2008 budget at a hearing today and members said Sunday that they are particularly anxious to question him on his funding plan for the city’s public schools.
Fenty is expected to propose a $796 million budget for the city’s 142 public schools for the coming fiscal year, a decrease of a little more than $12 million from the current budget. He will also ask for $320 million to fund the District’s 57 public charter schools, up from $266 million for the FY 2007, which ends Sept. 30.
Fenty’s budget briefing comes a little more than a week before the Council is scheduled to take its first vote on the mayor’s school takeover legislation, which he touts to increase accountability and attract students back into the system.
Fenty apparently is preparing for more enrollment shifts. His proposed public school budget is based on a projected loss of 3,033 students in the coming year based on decreases during thepast three years. Fiscal 2007’s budget was based on a funding formula for 55,558 students but there are only about 52,191 in the system. Meanwhile, Fenty’s budget anticipates a 15 percent enrollment increase at charter schools to about 22,000 students.
“He’s making some assumptions, which he has to make,” Council member Jim Graham, D-Ward 1 said. “He’s got a good budget… I want to know more details.”
But Council member Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, said he worried that a budget based on projected enrollment losses could hurt the public schools.
“The question is what Fenty’s giving the superintendent?” the former Board of Education member asked. “Will the superintendent be able to allocate the money in a way that schools won’t lose money?”
Fenty’s school budget also includes $45.2 million for school libraries, a $4.7 million increase over FY 2007. That allocation includes $2 million to maintain facilities and update collections as well as $2.7 million for new technology, including computers.
Poor school library facilities at some schools have been a major complaint from parents and some schools have turned to parents to help subsidize the cost of facilities.
