Downsizing in D.C.

DC Education Blog's Nathan comments that the D.C. Board of Education's guidelines for superintendent Janey's efforts to close or consolidate underutilized DCPS buildings sound "byzantine."

Yup. But that's to be expected here. There's no question that D.C. really needs to get rid of some of the millions of un- and underutilized space in the system. The District's been shedding enrollment for decades, DCPS' enrollment losses have been sped up by the growth of charter schools here, and the excess space is an enormous financial drain on the system (not to mention a major thorn in the side of growing charter schools struggling to find adequate space to operate in). The Board's committed to lose one million square feet of excess space by the end of this August, en route to three million by 2008.

But school closures, even in the best of situations, are always an incredible political minefield, and that's particularly the case in a place like D.C., where issues of geography, and which parts of the city get what public services are incredibly charged along racial and economic lines. Hence, a byzantine process is created to seek to balance all these competing interests and concerns.

As the debate appears to be shaping up, parents with children in small but high performing schools are understandably nervous about Janey's minimum enrollment goals for schools, which led some to believe he's simply going to close down small schools. On the other hand, activists in predominantly black and low-income neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River are concerned their communities will again face the brunt of the cuts.

This is an extremely delicate situation, one well worth watching as things continue to develop, and I'd be loath to make any sweeping suggestions here. But I do have a few observations:

1. This is an opportunity to DCPS to address quality issues: Closing low-performing schools is something that rarely happens in the public education sector, because of the obvious political and practical difficulties. But if enrollment declines and financial concerns are forcing DCPS to close schools, Janey should use this as an opportunity to close down or completely overhaul chronically low-performing schools.

2. DCPS should incorporate the alternative use value of buildings into closure decisions: News reports have named a variety of factors, including academic performance, neighborhood demographic trends, geographic equity/balance, and school size, to be considered in closure decisions. Because the drive for closures here is largely financial, though, DCPS ought also to take into account the economic value of alternative uses for school buildings or sites. All else equal, if DCPS can get more money by renting out or selling a school in one neighborhood versus another, that should be taken into consideration. This can also help balance the concerns of residents in some of the city's more disadvantaged neighborhoods that they will unfairly bear the brunt of closures.

3. Why won't the Board allow buildings to be sold? According to the Post, the Board's guidelines would not allow any closed school buildings to be surrendered to the city to be sold, but buildings would instead be leased to charter schools or city agencies. DCPS's refusal to turn buildings over to the city for sale has long been a major irritation to charter school advocates who would like to purchase the buildings, and I confess, I don't see the logic of such a limitation. There's no expectation that DCPS will need or be able to use all these buildings again in the near future, and refusing to make them available for purchase limits the range of potentially beneficial economic activities and developments that could be undertaken in closed school sites.

4. Charter schools can help here: Freeing up millions of underused DCPS space could potentially be a boon to charter schools, many of which have been struggling to obtain acceptable facilities in the city. But the charter community has learned from hard experience not to get its hopes up too high about new opportunities to access DCPS space. And the fact that the Board appears not to intend to sell the buildings is a major disappointment. That's too bad, because charter schools can also really help with some of the political challenges of school closures that the Board and Janey are facing right now. After all, recruiting a well-regarded charter school to locate in or expand to fill the site of a closed school could alleviate parents' and community members resistance to the loss of the existing neighborhood school. In addition, chartering also offers an option for parents in high-performing small schools slated for closure: at least in theory, these schools could perpetuate their existence by converting to charter status. Right now, D.C. has only one charter school, Paul Public Charter School in Northwest, and the political battle over Paul's conversion years ago has dissuaded other schools from attempting to convert. But potential closure could spark more conversions.