Testimony for the DBH FY19-20 Performance Oversight Hearing

October 22, 2020

Jess Giles

Deputy Director

Education Reform Now DC

Good morning! My name is Jess Giles. I am a Ward 7 resident, an equity advocate, and the Deputy Director of Education Reform Now DC (ERN DC). ERN DC is a non-profit organization that fights to ensure our public education system in Washington, DC, justly and equitably serves all students. We believe in a family’s right to choose where they want to send their child to public school — whether that’s in-boundary DCPS schools, out-of-boundary DCPS schools, or public charter schools. We are committed to advancing racial equity in public education, closing opportunity gaps, and regularly evaluating education reforms to see if they are working as intended. I am pleased to provide testimony at the Department of Behavioral Health’s (DBH) FY19-20 Performance Oversight Hearing.

The impact of COVID-19 has been challenging for all children and families in Washington, DC, but the impact has been disproportionately felt by Black, Brown, and immigrant communities due to bad policies, corporate irresponsibility, and racial bias. As of October 20, there have been 16,498 positive cases and 642 deaths. Three out of four people that have died from COVID-19 are Black. One out of four people with COVID-19 are Hispanic/LatinX. Additionally, the preliminary unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in September. The DC Council has a moral responsibility to do something about this.

One in five (20,080) children between age three and 17 had one or more emotional, behavioral, or developmental conditions in the District during the school year 2017-2018. As our Black and Brown students and families in DC continue to grapple with COVID-related health challenges, deaths, job loss, social isolation, and daily disruptions, they will need strong, consistent access to high-quality and affordable behavioral health care services. Fortunately, the DC Council approved an FY21 budget that allows more students to access vital mental health services while in school through expansion of cohort three of the DBH’s School-Based Mental Health Program. As of October 9, 2020, 84 percent (134 DCPS and public charter schools out of 160) of cohort three schools already have a clinician on board to provide school-based mental health services, which is remarkable. This puts us further on the path of providing mental health services in every public school in Washington, DC!

While this is certainly commendable, our community-based behavioral health service providers are still grappling with almost $9 million in spending cuts. In these challenging times, we need more spending on behavioral health services, not less. The DC Council must take the necessary steps to ensure that adults can be healthy enough to provide for their families and children can be ready to learn virtually or in-person once schools reopen safely. We urge the DC Council to continue to protect school-based mental health expansion as well as our entire behavioral healthcare system. Thank you for allowing me to testify.

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We are living in a time where transparency is critical for every organization. As we continue to learn from our past and strive for growth, we recognize that we must reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that public education is just and equitable in Washington, DC. So today, after engaging in many conversations with our community, we are announcing our first-ever core values, which aim to strengthen the foundation that Education Reform Now DC (ERN DC) is built on and showcase our dedication to all DC students and families.

The new core values represent our recent reflection on how we want to show up, internally and with external partners, but most importantly, with the DC community. 

Student-centered.

Anti-racist.

Honorable.

Collaborative.

What’s next?

We are looking to our community – students, partners, parents, and educators for suggestions on improving our collaboration with you so we can fight together for a public education that is just and equitable in DC. 

DC Council Committee on the Whole and Committee on Education joint hearing on B23-717, the “Expanding Equitable Access to Great Schools Act of 2020”; B23-642, the “African American and Cultural Studies Inclusion Amendment Act of 2020”; and B23-818, the “Child Enrollment Preference Amendment Act of 2020”

July 31, 2020

Ramin Taheri, Director, Education Reform Now-DC

Good afternoon, Chairman Mendelson, Chairperson Grosso, and members of the DC Council. My name is Ramin Taheri, and I am a Ward 6 resident and the father of two students in DC Public Schools. I am also the director of Education Reform Now-DC, a non-profit organization that fights to ensure that all students, particularly students of color and students from low-income families, receive a high-quality public education. 

My testimony today is focused on our support of B23-717, the “Expanding Equitable Access to Great Schools Act of 2020,” a bill that represents a step toward righting historical wrongs related to segregation. 

On the same day in 1954 that the Supreme Court decided in Brown v Board of Education that “separate but equal” schools were unconstitutional, it also ruled in Bolling v. Sharpe that segregated public schools in the District of Columbia denied Black students due process of law. These landmark legal decisions were foundational in establishing education as a civil right in America. They did not, however, immediately lead to integrated public schools in DC or elsewhere in the country, nor did they ensure that all public schools would receive equal funding. Today, our nation’s public schools tend to reflect the stark segregation present at the neighborhood level, where racial isolation, socioeconomic separation, and concentrated poverty are the norm. This is true in DC, where our stubbornly segregated schools and neighborhoods translate into unequal access to social capital, housing-based wealth, and educational opportunity. These ills can be traced directly to redlining, racially-restrictive covenants, and the actions of real-estate professionals, citizens associations (white homeowner groups), and the courts in furthering segregation in our city. It is incumbent upon our current leaders to advance policies that repair the harm done by their historic predecessors, and to make DC more just and equitable for all of its residents.

To her credit, Mayor Bowser has begun to put in place some preliminary steps to address issues of inequitable access and opportunity in DC’s public schools. Nearly two years ago, the mayor’s Cross-Sector Collaboration Task Force released its final report, calling for, among other things, the development of policies designed to increase socioeconomic diversity in schools and, specifically, improve access to highly-rated, in-demand schools for students designated as “at-risk.” As a result, in the current lottery to determine seats for academic year 2020-21, DCPS launched a pilot program giving students with this designation a preference at the Stevens School, a newly-renovated facility that will serve students at the pre-K-3 and pre-K-4 grades.

These are encouraging and laudable developments, but we can—and should—do more. B23-717, which would authorize a voluntary at-risk preference for public charter schools, could be a significant step in the right direction. As noted by the DC Policy Center, at-risk students tend to be excluded from schools already serving lower percentages of such students, largely because sibling preferences have the effect of maintaining the status quo with respect to the demographic makeup of a school. Using data collected from 12 public charter schools with long waitlists and low percentages of at-risk students, the DC Policy Center simulated lottery results using an at-risk priority, finding that such a preference would both improve the chances for at-risk students to match at a school they ranked highly and increase socioeconomic diversity—at the school offering the preference and at other schools across DC. This is the true promise of public school choice—decoupling educational opportunity from residential address, dismantling a system of public education wherein the wealthy are able to hoard opportunity by choosing to live in an exclusive neighborhood. Because many families do not enjoy the freedom to relocate their homes simply to gain access to a particular school, public school choice can help level the playing field. But choice itself is often insufficient, necessitating affirmative measures, like the preference contemplated by B23-717. 

Some critics of this approach might say that such a preference will benefit only a small segment of the at-risk student population, that B23-717 does not provide a systemic solution. This is true—an at-risk preference will not itself transform all of our public schools into perfect models of socioeconomic integration. But it is a false choice to suggest that we should do nothing at all if we’re unable to do something that will comprehensively redress pervasive and pernicious patterns of segregation. This legislation will benefit many students and families.

Others suggest, rightly, that some highly-rated schools now serving low percentages of at-risk students may not be equipped or prepared to adequately serve all students. At ERN-DC, we believe strongly that every child can learn, and we, therefore, know that school leaders will need to pair the at-risk preference with meaningful outreach to neighborhoods with low-income families and a sound plan to ensure these students receive the support they need to thrive at school. Moreover, this Council must provide additional support to these school leaders by fully funding the at-risk weight in the UPSFF to .37 so that schools serving a greater number of these students have the resources they need to provide each child who enters their doors, regardless of their needs, whatever is necessary to put them on a path to success.

Critics of B23-717 may also say that diversity or integration, in of itself, is not necessary and certainly not sufficient to meet the needs of at-risk students and families. To be sure, there is nothing magical about placing a student from a low-income family next to a student from an upper-income family; indeed, as EmpowerK12 has shown through its analysis of “bold performance” schools, there are numerous examples in DC of public schools that serve large percentages of at-risk students—and serve them well. But to deprive at-risk students of any meaningful chance to gain entry into some of the most highly-rated, in-demand public schools is simply wrong and serves only to perpetuate a broken, inequitable system. B23-717 is not a panacea, but neither is it pointless or inconsequential. 

Finally, some critics may argue that B23-717 treats students unequally and therefore unfairly, preferencing at-risk students over others seeking to enroll at highly-rated schools. But B23-717 is about equity, not equality; equal treatment is not necessarily fair treatment. We must actively seek to mitigate the harms of longstanding injustices or they will simply continue to fester. These students need and deserve a preference—it’s only fair. 

In closing, ERN-DC strongly supports B23-717, and encourages DCPS to continue to expand the at-risk priority throughout its schools, because it is the right thing to do. The bill will not only improve access for at-risk students to highly-rated, in-demand schools, but it also advances the very promise of public school choice, which seeks to detach a child’s destiny from his or her residential address. 

Thank you for allowing me to testify today. I welcome any questions the Committees may have.

See the full statement with footnotes here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Education Reform Now-DC

Contact: Ramin Taheri, State Director

Ramin@edreformnow.org

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Education Reform Now-DC (ERN-DC) State Director Ramin Taheri released the following statement in response to ERN-DC’s budget priorities included in the District of Columbia’s fiscal year 2021 budget following today’s final approval by the DC Council:

“Today, the DC Council passed a strong budget for fiscal year 2021, prioritizing students during a global pandemic and while faced with plummeting revenues. The FY21 budget increases per-pupil funding by three percent, marginally increases funding for students considered “at-risk,” expands the school-based mental-health program, and creates smart, innovative policies that maximize the use of our publicly owned buildings for the benefit of public-school students. While we applaud the DC Council for putting students first, we acknowledge that these investments fall short of our initial asks, especially when it comes to serving students that have been historically disadvantaged. As we head into the fall, we look forward to continuing to partner with the DC Council to advance policies that will ensure all of our students, particularly students of color and students from low-income families, receive a high-quality education.” 

Ramin Taheri, Director, Education Reform Now-DC

Good afternoon, Chairperson Gray, Chairperson McDuffie, and members of the DC Council. My name is Ramin Taheri, and I am the director of Education Reform Now-DC, a non-profit organization that fights to ensure that all students, particularly students of color and students from low-income families, have access to a high-quality education. Thank you for your leadership and for allowing me to testify today in support of the new hospital at St. Elizabeths.

As an organization that advocates for equity in education, we know that the systemic inequities that have long deprived students living in Ward 7 and Ward 8 of the high-quality public education to which they are entitled are the same that have kept people living on the east end of DC from accessing essential healthcare services. We seek to urgently reform public education so that DC no longer fails students who have been historically marginalized; I am testifying today because this same urgency must be applied to our system of healthcare, so that the children and families of Ward 7 and Ward 8 have access to the same world-class health services enjoyed by residents in other wards. 

We know that children living on the east end of DC have access to fewer high-performing schools, due to a history of inequitable funding and the deprioritization of these communities. The most recent DC State Report Card published by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which grades public schools in DC on a scale of one to five stars, revealed that only four out of the 36 schools in Ward 8 received 4 or 5 stars, while every school in Ward 3 got four or five stars. These same disparities are evident in health outcomes, due to a confluence of factors, including a lack of healthcare access; bias, discrimination, and racism in and out of hospital care; and the existence of food deserts. We know, for example, that the residents of Ward 8 are five times more likely to die from diabetes than residents who live in Ward 3. More recently, we learned that the District’s death rate from COVID-19 mirrors these same disparities, with Black residents, who make up the majority of the population in Ward 7 and Ward 8, more than six times as likely as whites to die from the coronavirus. Although Black residents account for less than half of DC’s overall population, they make up 76% of all deaths from COVID-19. Additionally, recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that residents living on the west end of this city have a life expectancy that is a decade more than the life expectancy of residents in Ward 7 and Ward 8. This is a grave injustice. 

The District cannot begin to address these disparities in health outcomes without first providing access to essential healthcare services—access that, as of now, does not exist for residents in Ward 7 and Ward 8. The troubled United Medical Center, of course, the only hospital in DC located east of the Anacostia River, has been beset with problems and is scheduled to close. Meanwhile, UMC’s obstetrics ward was already shuttered in 2017 after a series of incidents revealed an inadequate and dangerous level of care for expecting mothers and their newborns. Moreover, a patchwork of primary-care clinics now provides many of the services that are more appropriately within the purview of a full-service hospital.

There is an indisputable need for better and fairer access to healthcare services for the residents of Ward 7 and Ward 8, and B23-0777, as written, will go a long way toward addressing that need. ERN-DC was pleased to see that the new hospital at St. Elizabeths will be equipped to handle many of the trauma cases that arise in east-end neighborhoods. Likewise, the new hospital will return maternal health services to the communities in Ward 7 and Ward 8, along with newborn deliveries and a much-needed neonatal intensive care unit, which will undoubtedly save lives. We commend Mayor Bowser, Chairman Mendelson, and Chairperson Gray for their steadfast commitment to bringing a new hospital to the east end.

At the same time, we would be remiss in not mentioning some concerns, both with the bill and with the District’s overall commitment to providing for the health needs of our residents. First, on the latter point, ERN-DC reiterates our request that the Council devote an additional $2.5 million to expand the school-based mental health program to more schools and restore the cuts to the Department of Behavioral Health’s Community Services Division. Health outcomes and educational outcomes are intertwined, and an investment now in mental-health services will pay future dividends in student well-being and academic performance. 

Second, with respect to this bill, we note that the proposed number of beds (136) is significantly lower than that which exists now at UMC (300). The nationwide average of beds in community hospitals is 2.4 per one thousand residents. At 136 beds—serving a population of nearly 165 thousand across Ward 7 and Ward 8—the new hospital at St. Elizabeths will bring the number of beds per one thousand residents in the east end to approximately half the nationwide average. Likewise, although the new hospital will be “verified” to serve a large proportion of trauma cases, the most serious of those cases will still be referred to hospitals in other wards or outside the District. 

In conclusion, the new hospital at St. Elizabeths will expand access to healthcare in Ward 7 and Ward 8. More importantly, the new hospital will save lives. It is long overdue, and ERN-DC urges the Council to see it through to fruition. Thank you again, Chairperson Gray, for your leadership on this issue, and for allowing me to testify today. I welcome any questions the Committees may have.

Footnotes here