The District of Columbia’s $300 million-a-year charter school funding formula has been a dangerous enticement to fraud and waste for years, a school advocate claimed in an interview.
“I’m not totally opposed to all charter schools,” said Gina Arlotto of the Save Our Schools Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates for traditional public schools. “But the reality is that some of these charter school operators are hustlers, quite a few of them are outright criminals and a lot of them are doing a big bait-and-switch.”
There are some 55 charter schools in D.C. — more than in any other city in the nation. The Board of Education governs 18 of those schools; the D.C. Public Charter School Board governs the rest.
Charter schools are given four payments a year —in July, October, January and April. The schools estimate the attendance in July and are paid at that rate until the audits. Enrollment audits aren’t finished until late January or early February, so the schools are paid based on their projected enrollment until the last payment.
“There’s anecdotal evidence that some of these guys are loading up on students until they pass the audit,” Arlotto said. “Once they pass, they make it clear that some of the kids aren’t welcome and send them back to the neighborhood schools.”
Nona Mitchell Richardson is a spokeswoman for the Public Charter School Board. She said she’s never seen proof of Arlotto’s allegations.
“It’s a little difficult for the charter schools to fudge their enrollment because [auditors] physically count them,” Richardson said. “They can give a number, but ultimately, the audit actually determines what the number is for each school.”
The State Education Office conducts the enrollment audits every year. Officials there acknowledged, privately, that there are some gaps in the system.
Projected enrollment has caused trouble in other places. Jos-Arz Therapeutic Public Charter School was shuttered last year after spending nearly $40 million per year in public dollars. Its projected attendance was 190 students, but it never enrolled more than 50. A grand jury is now probing the school.
Another federal grand jury is exploring allegations that officials at the New School for Enterprise and Development inflated the school’s enrollment figures, a source said.
New School was shut down last year, too.
“The charter schools are popping up on every corner,” Arlotto said. “They’re like liquor stores.”
