D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown is planning to conduct hearings on why so many spots in the school system’s top-performing magnet schools are being sold to suburban students. At least 75 students paid nonresident tuition to enroll in D.C. Public Schools while living in Maryland and Virginia this year, flocking toward high schools with arts, tech, and other special programs, along with graduation rates 26 percentage points higher than the systemwide average.
And the number is growing, up from 63 students in the 2008-2009 school year. School officials have explained that slots are only opened to nonresidents — at up to $12,227 a year — when city students fail to fill them up.
| In-demand |
| D.C. Public Schools officials said these schools have “a greater draw” among non-resident students. (not in order) |
| » Benjamin Banneker Academic High School |
| » McKinley Technology High School |
| »Duke Ellington School of the Arts |
| » Phelps Architecture, Construction, and Engineering High School |
| » School Without Walls High School |
| » Columbia Heights Education Campus |
But Brown and District residents are skeptical that there aren’t local students eager to walk the halls of the city’s best-performing high schools.
“This is an issue of great concern to the chairman,” said spokeswoman Karen Sibert, explaining that the hearings will begin after the city’s budget is completed, and will allow the council to peg down “how this process works, what is being done currently to recruit students into these type of magnet programs and what the city can do to recruit more students from within the District to participate in these programs.”
Brown promised “My staff will look into this matter” in an email to a Woodley Park resident who had learned of the nonresident program from articles in The Washington Examiner, which mentioned Maryland and Virginia parents enrolling children at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Tyler Elementary for specialty programs.
“Can you imagine that they simply could not find any student in the District that would take that spot at Ellington? I could stand out on U Street and say, ‘Hey, we have a free spot at Ellington, does anyone want it?'” Sally MacDonald, secretary of the Federation of Citizens Associations of the District of Columbia, told the Examiner. “Can you imagine they wouldn’t?”
Fred Lewis, a spokesman for acting Chancellor Kaya Henderson, said that the District does “recruit heavily” to fill vacant spots with local students at events such a high school fair held in November at Eastern High School.
DCPS “gives District residents preference over non-District residents who pay tuition. DCPS also does not hold spots open at our schools for nonresidents,” said Lewis, adding that in addition to events, “teachers and counselors direct students to high schools that match their academic, social and extracurricular interests.”
When Brown’s office asks DCPS officials to explain their policies after the budget is finalized on June 7, the chairman will have support from other members of the council.
Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, wrote MacDonald: “As [you] know I want the spaces for our own residents … charity and schooling starts at home.”
