Decoding the FY24 DCPS Budget

The DCPS Budget for SY24 presents some schools with cuts (in spite of stable enrollment and in spite of DC Council Legislation designed to prevent cuts). It also provides increase in funds to some schools with large populations of students with the greatest need. To help DC families understand the budget, three DC parents (and parents of alumni) have put together analyses of the budget.

Ward 6 parent Dr. Betsy Wolf examines equity and adequacy and compares SY24 to past budgets. See her Twitter “Ted Talk” 🧵 here.

Let’s talk about DCPS FY24 budgets again. Here is my bottom line: For 67% of elementary schools and a few ed campuses and middle schools, DCPS actually cut general ed funding from FY23 to FY24. Taking out special ed and English learner funds helps us see what’s really going on. pic.twitter.com/6Iju4wDOjA

— Betsy Wolf (@betsyjwolf) March 17, 2023

Dr. Mary Levy, highly regarded for her exhaustive experience examining DC Public School budgets, also shared her analysis via a Twitter 🧵.

DCPS school budgets next year. Initial allocations are 1st half of the story: 67 of 116 schools get less $$ next year (FY24) than this year. See charts by @betsyjwolf. 43 schools lost money for special ed, 40 of which had the same number or more special ed students.

— Mary Levy (@MaryLevy17) March 22, 2023

Finally, Ward 2 Ed Council President and DCPS parent, David Alpert, drafted an explainer of DCPS SY24 budgets, with tips on how to identify whether (and why) your school is sustaining cuts. Read David’s substack here.

People keep asking me what's going on with DC school budgets. So, I created an FAQ. https://t.co/RQM2GULH7S

Also maybe a new substack newsletter, or maybe not. Don't know yet.

— David Alpert (@alpert) March 13, 2023