The District of Columbia will spend $255,000 to bolster a program that pays middle school students for academic and behavioral excellence, the D.C. Council voted Tuesday.
A bill to raise city funding for the Capital Gains program from $950,000 to $1.2 million for the current fiscal year was introduced by D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray at the request of Mayor Adrian Fenty, and unanimously passed without debate.
The Capital Gains program, which pays roughly 3,000 public school students at 15 schools, began as a research study two years ago. Students must meet certain criteria, such as regular attendance, good behavior and high grades, to earn up to $100 every two weeks.
D.C. started the research study in partnership with Harvard University, which matched the District’s original $950,000 financial contribution to the program in 2008.
» Participating middle school students are awarded “points” based on their performance in five areas: attendance, behavior and three academic measures selected by the schools.
» Each point is the equivalent of $2.
» According to the Harvard University department that created the program, the average student will earn $750 a year, but students have the potential to earn up to $1,500.
Capital Gains hit a budgetary snag this year when students began earning more than the city accounted for in the 2010 budget. The average student is currently earning $45 every two weeks, up from $35 every two weeks last year.
The Capital Gains program was established to give students in low-income school districts a financial incentive to improve their grades and behavior. But since the trial study began, the District has released no information about whether the program has improved the academic performance of participating students.
D.C. Public Schools officials have pointed to the increase in money being earned by students as evidence of a rise in academic achievement. They did not return requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Gray’s spokeswoman Doxie McCoy said the chairman has not taken a position on the program “because the verdict is still out on the results of it.”
“According to the District of Columbia Public Schools, the funding is needed to provide resources for increased numbers of children to participate,” McCoy said. “[Gray] thought it best to move forward on the contract as requested for the benefit of the children.”
