The D.C. Public Charter School Board is considering stripping two schools of their charters, just one week after another school threw in the towel because of declining enrollment and dire finances. The board will vote Tuesday night whether to pursue the revocation process for Nia Community Public Charter School and Ideal Academy Public Charter School. “It could go either way,” spokeswoman Audrey Williams said.
However, the board has never voted against going forward with the process, which involves a hearing and final vote. And a school has never survived the process.
Members of the school board declined to comment on why Nia Community and Ideal Academy were on the chopping block, but an analysis of the schools’ report cards shows mixed academic progress and financial difficulties.
Nia Community, a PreK-5 campus in Ward 7, has seen reading and math scores slip over the past few years. In 2007, 44 percent of third-graders scored proficient or advanced on the state reading exam; that number slipped to 33.3 percent in 2008, then 28 percent in 2009. Data was not available for 2010.
According to the 2009 school report, Nia Community was also in deep financial trouble with a budget deficit of $394,000 and a cumulative net asset deficit of $415,000.
On Ideal Academy’s two Ward 4 campuses, most grade levels of the preschool-12 charter showed academic progress in 2009 over 2008. Still, just 26 percent of 10th graders were proficient or advanced in math in 2009, and less than 40 percent did as well in reading. In its report, school board officials expressed “extreme concern of the organization’s ability to exist” in coming years because of “impending debt payments.”
Erin Dillon, senior policy analyst for independent think tank Education Sector, said that charters have traditionally been revoked because of poor finances but that in recent years the focus has shifted to a school’s ability to boost academic performance.
“The D.C. Charter School Board has really led the way in terms of this focus on academics,” Dillon said. “You see a lot more closures for academic pressures, or schools seeing the writing on the wall so they give up their charters before they’re revoked.”
Thea Bowman Public Charter School relinquished its charter last week, citing low enrollment and financial difficulties. “Charter school closure is never an ideal outcome,” board Chairman Brian Jones said of Thea Bowman, which will close in June.
The board revoked two charters in 2010: Kamit Institute for Magnificent Achievers in August for “dismal academic results,” and Young America Works in April for “failing to maintain the health and safety of all students,” among other concerns.
Since the board’s creation in 1996, six D.C. school charters have been revoked, and 11 have been voluntarily relinquished. The board received a record 19 applications this year to open new charter schools.
Thirty-eight percent of D.C. public school students attend charter schools.
