D.C. Council’s Committee of the Whole Public Hearing on:
Closure of Eagle Academy
Greetings, Chairman Mendelson, members, and staff of the Committee of the Whole, my name is Jessica Giles. I am a ward seven resident and the Executive Director of the D.C. Chapter of Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA). This non-profit organization advocates for a just and equitable public education system for all students in the nation’s capital. Thank you for holding a public oversight hearing on the Closure of Eagle Academy Public Charter School. Given that the hearing was limited to invited witnesses and agency representatives, we are submitting written testimony.
For hundreds of years, this country has intentionally and repeatedly failed students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other marginalized students. This failure can be seen throughout our criminal justice systems, healthcare systems, housing policies, and public education. It has wrought disastrous outcomes.
We believe D.C. leaders must prioritize innovation, accountability, and high-quality public school choice. These three priorities, when working together, help ensure continuously better results, especially for those students who have been historically underserved.
- Innovation– solving problems in new, evidence-based ways to promote equitable learning.
- Accountability – the process of monitoring and evaluating the performance of students, teachers, administrators, and schools to improve student achievement.
- High-quality public school choice – the ability of families to choose from an array of great public schools – whether these schools are in-boundary D.C. Public Schools, out-of-boundary D.C. Public Schools, or public charter schools.
Choice in D.C.
Since public charter schools first came to D.C. more than thirty years ago, they have strengthened families’ choices by offering an alternative to the traditional public school system. In the school year 2023-24, these LEAs educated 46,358 students, nearly half of DC’s public school students. All of these schools are free and open to the public. In exchange for autonomy, charter schools must be held to rigorous standards.
D.C. Public Charter School Board (PCSB)
Created in 1996, the D.C. Public Charter School Board (PCSB) is an independent government agency that is the sole public charter school authorizer in D.C. The PCSB is led by a seven-member volunteer board that oversees 134 public charter schools, managed by 68 independently run nonprofit organizations called local education agencies (LEAs).
PCSB’s oversight of schools falls into three buckets: academic, financial, and organizational. Anyone who wants to open a public charter school in the District of Columbia must apply to the PCSB. The board rigorously reviews the application, and the public can weigh in on the matter. Once approved, PCSB reviews its charter once every five years. If the school is deficient in any area, they may be closed. While no one wants any school to shut down, it is critically important that no student is offered a subpar education. We believe this is true for all public charter schools and D.C. Public Schools. We must demand that all public schools be excellent and hold them accountable.
Eagle Academy Public Charter School
Like many individuals in my community, we were upset by how Eagle Academy closed and heartbroken for the students, families, and employees that it negatively affected. Given the timeline, it is clear that Eagle Academy had a consistently poor financial position, and PCSB had known for over a year and intervened too late.
In June of 2023, PCSB placed Eagle Academy on the Financial Monitoring List due to several deficient metrics. On August 19, 2024, the PCSB voted to reject Friendship Public Charter School’s proposal to acquire the Eagle Academy Public Charter School charter. The next day, Eagle Academy’s Board announced their decision to immediately relinquish their charter, which left many employees and 362 students without a school one week before the start of the academic year.
Recommendations for strengthening accountability
PCSB will again face another gut-wrenching decision about whether to close a school- and how. We have several recommendations that strike the right balance of honoring PCSB’s independence and protecting public charter school autonomy while strengthening oversight and accountability.
- Board members of public charter schools must receive training. Public charter school board members are responsible for their schools’ financial position. It’s a no-brainer that they should be trained. These trainings should entail:
- A list of their responsibilities.
- A list of actions they should take when certain situations occur.
- An overview of the school’s academic, financial, and organizational history.
Any mandated training should be necessary for their roles and not time and cost-prohibitive for prospective Board members.
- PCSB must ensure enhanced communication between the agency, school staff, and Board members. Eagle Academy Board members stated that they were unaware of the financial problems occurring in the school. While it is unnecessary and likely inappropriate for board members to have access to every communication between PCSB and school staff, board members should be alerted directly on matters of grave and urgent importance. Examples might include the following: the school being placed on Financial Corrective Action Plans (FCAP), Financial Monitoring List (FML), or on School Improvement Plans. It is critical that board members immediately have all of the information necessary to strengthen the financial health of the school. The school should also place this information on their websites.
- PCSB must finalize school closure decisions before My School DC Lottery deadlines. Families should not be placed in the unfair position of enrolling their child in a school that may later close, nor is it fair to other schools that could have enrolled these students earlier. While we understand there are situations that might arise after the lottery deadline, this policy should be adhered to for the benefit of the entire ecosystem and, most importantly, for the students.
- PCSB must enhance transparency of financial process. PCSB must post on their website schools that are on the FCAP and FML lists, and schools must respond in a timely fashion. Thanks to the PCSB for posting this list on December 6.[1]
In closing, we believe D.C.’s public education system can be the best in the nation. When D.C. prioritizes innovation, accountability, and high-quality public school choice, we can help ensure continuously better results, especially for students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other historically underserved students. Thank you for allowing me to testify on this critical matter. We are available to continue discussing this issue at your earliest convenience.
[1] PCSB. Navigating Financial Oversight: A School’s Journey on the Monitoring List. Source: https://dcpcsb.org/navigating-financial-oversight-schools-journey-monitoring-list