By Liane Scott, on February 14th, 2012 So, Empower DC went to Mayor Gray’s One City Citizen Summit last Saturday. In the mayor’s invitation to the residents of the District of Columbia, he described the summit as “a frank and open conversation about what needs to be done to create Washington, DC as One City.” He also promised that we would have the opportunity to:
• Learn about current efforts to grow our economy, improve our schools, create more jobs, and other initiatives underway to move our city forward • Discuss some of the biggest challenges that prevent Washington from becoming truly One City • Share your views in small group discussions and listen to neighbors from every part of the District • Vote on specific priorities for action in the coming year • Brainstorm new ideas about how the D.C. Government can work more effectively with its citizens • Identify ways you can be more involved in future efforts to create a more unified city that works for everyone
In keeping with those lofty goals, Empower DC put together two fact sheets, one with information about the school closings that are likely to occur and the other about the loss of affordable housing in the city. As it turns out, those hand outs were considered so subversive that many of Empower DC’s members were threatened with arrest should they distribute those materials in the summit. So much for a frank and open conversation Mayor Gray! Although, many felt the summit was genuinely participatory, others though Gray was using the summit as an opportunity to present his plans to the public in the hopes that they would simply rubber stamp his agenda. One such voice was Empower DC education organizer Daniel del Pielago who is quoted in the Washington Post. Only time will tell if any of the independent ideas generated in the small group discussions will actually bear fruit. We will explore some of those independent ideas in future posts related to this subject. For now watch the video. Decide for yourself if it represents the real-time grassroots democracy that Mayor Gray believes the summit achieved.
At the risk of offending the Gray Administration, who seems to think they have a monopoly on how to improve the city despite rhetoric that says the exact opposite, here’s a link to Empower DC’s “subversive” literature the Citizens Summit Hand Out, which was the cause of all the above controversy. In it we suggest that the 55 percent rise in the cost of housing since 2007 should prompt the Mayor to use funding from the newly found $240 million surplus to fully fund the housing production trust fund in order to protect and preserve low and moderate cost housing. Actually enforcing the Inclusionary Zoning Law which REQUIRES developers to include low and moderately priced housing in their high end developments wouldn’t hurt either. Or that because most DC families who have an income less than $2500 a month are paying over 60% of that income on housing, maybe Mayor Gray should use funding from the newly found $240 million surplus to fully fund (ERAP) Emergency Rental Assistance Program to help prevent the evictions of low-income residents. Should the Gray Administration be afraid of our suggestion that the IFF study is flawed and that a moratorium should be placed on all school closings? Download and judge for yourself.
By Liane Scott, on February 10th, 2012 
The administration of Mayor Vincent Gray recently commissioned a study of DC schools by the Illinois Facility Fund (IFF) which was paid for by the Walton Foundation (Wal-Mart) and several other interests heavily invested in charter schools. The study divided DC schools into 4 tiers (Tier 1 being the highest “performing” and Tier 4 being the “lowest performing”). The methodology used to rank the schools into Tiers was by looking at Standardized Test Score Results (DCCAS).
Eliminating poor performing seats poses no threat to children. Only to seats.
Overall the study offers 5 recommendations: Fill seats in Tier 1 Schools. Sustain the performing capacity of Tier 1 schools. Invest in facilities and programs to accelerate performance in Tier 2 schools. Monitor Tier 3 schools. Close or Turnaround Tier 4 DCPS Schools. Close Tier 4 charter schools and replace them with high-performing publicly-funded charter schools.
If you believe that test scores are the only thing that determines whether or not a school is worthy then using them as the sole criteria in the IFF’s study won’t bother you. If, on the other hand, you view a school as an integral part of the community and for that reason should be supported, then you might have hoped the study might look into why so many DC schools are failing academically. Despite the firing of hundreds of teachers from DCPS, academic performance has failed to improve by more than a few points. It would have been nice if the issue was that simple. Closing more than 20 public schools during the Fenty Administration may have increased class sizes and saved the city money but the achievement gap between white students and black students is wider than it’s ever been. Following the recommendations of the IFF study may increase the number of publicly-funded charter schools but as there’s no real evidence that charter schools are actually doing better academically than DC’s public schools, it hardly seems like a recommendation designed to improve the schools.
Please note. I’m aware that the mainstream media has suggested that the publicly-funded charter schools are in fact doing better academically than the traditional public schools but test scores just don’t bear that out. If you doubt this, please research it for yourself. Great Schools is one source for test scores and academic rankings. You might start there. I site them also because they’re rankings take more into account than academics. According to their site, the top-ranked DC schools are all traditional public schools. Although their rankings are hardly conclusive, I’m reasonably certain that they’ve been replicated by other reputable sources. So, if in fact, the best schools in DC are traditional public schools, why would the Illinois Facilities Fund recommend that DC’s “Tier 4” schools be replaced by publicly-funded charter schools? Wouldn’t it make more sense to suggest that these low-ranking schools, which are mostly in Wards 7 & 8, be encouraged to emulate the successful public schools west of the Anacostia River? The cynic in me believes with all sincerity that the real reason behind the IFF’s recommendation that DC’s public schools be replaced by charters has something to do with the fact that the Illinois Facilities Fund is a non-profit lender that lends mainly to charter schools not only in Illinois but soon across the whole of the United States. Increasing the number of charter schools in DC may not improve the academic performance of DC’s student population. It’s not likely to reduce the achievement gap between our white and black students but it may very well help to increase the bottom line of the Illinois Facilities Fund (which given it’s emerging status as a national entity would prefer to be referred to as the IFF).
I’m also confused by the Gray Administration’s confidence in the study, not because of what appears to be a clear conflict of interest, but because the recommendations don’t seem to align with the purpose of the study itself. According to the Washington Post, Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright’s reason for commissioning the study was, “to identify communities in greatest need of more education options.” The report recommends that the communities in greatest need of more education options either close their schools or replace them with charters. I don’t see how closing schools will provide the communities in Wards 7 & 8 with more educational opportunities. Isn’t that a direct contradiction of the purpose of the study? Presumably more charter schools will increase education options but if you’re . . . → Read More: School Closings and the Displacement Equation
By Liane Scott, on February 8th, 2012 School closing + the loss of affordable housing = DISPLACEMENT
That’s the equation that is behind the loss of many of DC’s low- and moderate-income residents to the suburbs. Empower DC exposed this equation for displacement in an Info and Action Summit, Saturday February 4, 2012. Over a hundred DC residents, all concerned about school closings and DC’s affordable housing crisis participated in the event. The result was a plan to have an organized presence at Mayor Vince Gray’s Citizen’s Summit on Saturday February 11, 2012, where we will bring the concerns of DC residents who are most vulnerable to the threat of displacement to the mayor’s attention. For more information contact Daniel del Pielago at 202-234-9119 ext 104 or email Daniel@EmpowerDC.org.
Prior to the action planning component of the day, Empower DC conducted a popular education exercise which revealed many of the factors that lead to displacement. Some of them, like the a new Metro station or a Riverwalk, certainly sound like good things but far too often we don’t think about how these developments will impact residents who can’t afford the rising property values that accompany these changes. Everyone wants access to public transportation, clean parks and recreation facilities, not to mention libraries and good schools in their communities. Why is it that in Washington DC, these things seem reserved only for those who can afford the highest rents and mortgages? The question we should be pondering is how can we have development without displacement? I hope you’ll consider that question as you ponder the following factors most of which relate to the Riverside Community, which is facing a school closure and heightened interest from developers. Even though these factors relate to Riverside, notice how similar they are to development happening in other neighborhoods that are facing school closures.
School Closings
CHARLES YOUNG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (820 26th Street, NE)
Young is located right next to the Langston Dwellings (public housing) and Spingarn High School, Charles Young Elementary sits atop a hill overlooking Langston Golf Course and the PEPCO plant. Young was closed in 2008 and the city is now planning to surplus this property.
SPINGARN HIGH SCHOOL (2500 Benning Rd. NE)
Spingarn High has been identified as a Tier 4 school in the recent study commissioned by the District (IFF study) and is recommended for closure or turnaround. Spingarn is right next to Charles Young elementary which the City plans to surplus and the Langston Dwellings (public housing).
Spingarn enrolls about 550 students
77% of students qualify for free & reduced lunch
68% of Spingarn students are in-boundary which means it is a neighborhood school
RIVER TERRACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
In 2010 DCPS proposed the closing of River Terrace Elementary, the community organized and was able to get a year’s extension on the decision to close the school. This past December of 2011 Kaya Henderson/Mayor Gray announced they would close the school at the end of the 2011/2012 school year. The school and the River Terrace community sit directly next to the Anacostia River on a big plot of land, close to the Benning Road entrance of the Anacostia River Walk Trail.
Affordable Housing
Since 2000, the District government has allowed more than 7,500 housing units that costs $500 per month and under, to be lost without an equal replacement.
Prior to 2000, the District of Columbia had approximately 11,000 units of public housing, but between 2001 & 2007 – DC lost 1,300 units of public housing without one-to-one replacement.
Currently, the U.S. Congress want to raise the minimum rent on the lowest income residents who live in public housing and Section 8 housing regardless of their income. In the District of Columbia approximately 4,000 households will be impacted and could be forced into homelessness. Families living in Carver Terrace, Langston Dwellings, the Pinnacle could all be affected.
Youth In DC
Since 2007, 4,000 children have been affected by home foreclosures in the District
In 2010, 16,000 children had a least one parent who was unemployed (15%).
Poverty
23.23% of Carver Terrace residents’ incomes are below the poverty level. In Washington D.C. 20.22% of residents are below the poverty level. In the United States only 12.38% of residents’ are below the poverty level.
Carver Terrace residents have an even lower income than the other residents in their neighborhood of Washington D.C. of $27,019, 36% lower than the United States median income.
Metro
A 2030 Metro map forecasts a metro station in the River Terrace . . . → Read More: DC’s Displacement Equation: A Call To Action
By Liane Scott, on February 5th, 2012 Crossposted from Street Sense, written by Mary Otto
Rents could be raised for some of the nation’s poorest tenants under a provision of a bill now working its way through Congress.
A draft version of a bill entitled the Affordable Housing and Self-Sufficiency Improvement Act, released on Jan. 13 would remove a cap in place since 1998, allowing the housing secretary and public housing landlords to boost rents in housing projects and project-based Section 8 apartments.
As Street Sense was going to press on the evening of Jan. 17, housing advocates were expected to convene a meeting at the Southeast Branch Public Library to discuss the possible impact of the bill with public housing tenants.
“I’m going to say to the tenants to go try and meet with the Subcommittee Chairwoman, Congresswoman Biggert, and tell her that there are families who cannot afford an increase in minimum rent, whose housing stability will be threatened by a minimum rent policy that has no cap,” said National Low Income Housing Coalition vice president Linda Couch, a scheduled speaker at the event, organized by the District of Columbia Grassroots Empowerment Project.
A spokesperson for Congresswoman Judy Biggert, an Illinois Republican, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, did not return calls for comment.
But Laquita Eddie, a resident and community board president at Faircliff Plaza West, a federally-subsidized project-based Section 8 apartment complex in Columbia Heights, predicted that a rent increase would further stretch poor tenants who are already at the breaking point.
“No good can come out of this,” said Eddie. She works at a grocery store and pays more than the minimum rent at her complex. Yet with two sons to support, the challenge to make ends meet is constant.
“I’m still struggling, buying food and keeping my lights on,” she said.
And many of her neighbors are surviving on less. If the rent of the poorest among them is increased, they could face desperate choices, Eddie said. “You are talking about a mom trying to feed her kids. “
In the District, approximately 20,000 residents live in public housing, according to DC Housing Authority data, but not all of them would be affected by the bill. While the D.C. Housing Authority has the freedom to set its own minimum rents under the federal “Moving to Work” program, residents of the city’s privately-owned project-based Section 8 units would fall under the draft law. As of Nov, 2011, the District had active contracts for 10,457 units of Project-Based Section 8 housing, according to data contained on the website of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.
Project-based Section 8 tenants typically pay 30 percent of their monthly income toward rent, with rental assistance making up the difference between what the tenants can afford and the approved rent. But even tenants with very little or no income are required to pay something.
Currently, if 30 percent of a tenant’s income is less than $50, he or she can be charged a a minimum rent of up to $50 a month. Under the draft of the new law, the cap on the minimum rent would be lifted. The new minimum rent would be set at at least $69.45, and would be annually indexed to inflation. .
“The current HUD secretary, or the next one could go beyond,” said Couch. With the cap removed, “there is no limit.”
A HUD spokeswoman said she could not comment on the pending legislation. The bill, which may be scheduled for markup in coming weeks, is part of larger ongoing reform efforts that have targeted rental assistance programs run by HUD. Housing officials and lawmakers say the reforms are intended to preserve and expand affordable housing opportunities.
The nation’s public housing system, which currently serves more than 4 million elderly, disabled, homeless, poor and working individuals and families and subsidizes over one million Project-Based Section 8 apartments, is facing an historic level of need, according to Assistant HUD Secretary Sandra B. Henriquez, who testified in June before Biggert’s Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity subcommittee.
Henriquez said HUD’s 2011 “Worst Case Housing Needs” Study showed a 20 percent increase in renters paying more than half their income in rent, living in severely inadequate conditions, or both, between 2007 and 2009.
“The demand on our rental programs has been steadily increasing as incomes have dropped and homes have been lost to foreclosure,” she told the lawmakers.
At Faircliff Plaza West, Santiago DeAngulo has seen . . . → Read More: Higher Rents for Poorest Tenants
By Grassroots DC, on January 30th, 2012 
Crossposted from The Washington Teacher written by Candi Peterson
The headlines from today’s top education stories reads: “Many public schools in D.C.’s poorest area should be transformed or shut, study says; more charters recommended” written by Bill Turque, Washington Post writer while Mike Debonis’ blog: DeMorning Links reads: “School Closings Contemplated” and Channel Fox Five TV news reported the DC School System study recommends making major improvements or close three dozen under performing public schools or expand high performing charter schools.
The Demolition of Bruce Monroe Elementary School
The Washington Teacher blog first reported on October 31, 2011 about future plans to close additional DC public schools. An excerpt from the 21st Century School Fund September – October newsletter stated: “The Deputy Mayor for Education, with a 100,000 dollar grant from the Walton Family Foundation, engaged IFF (Illinois Facility Fund) to study the capacity and performance of DCPS and public charter schools. IFF has authored reports in Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, using a defined method to determine what they term “performing” or “non- performing” seats. This analysis is being done with an eye to “right sizing” district schools which beyond consolidation could include reconstitution and replacement with school management organizations.”
Not unlike other major cities including NY, Chicago, Ohio- DC has been at the forefront of shutting down traditional public schools. In 2008, twenty-three public schools were closed under former DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee and then mayor Adrian Fenty which led to a community outcry to save our public schools. Local education stakeholders voices weren’t heeded by Rhee or Fenty and only one neighborhood elementary school- John Burroughs was saved from the chopping block.
Natalie Hopkinson who authored the article Why School Choice Fails, which appeared in the December 4, 2011 N.Y. Times, discussed how this country’s reform policies in Washington, DC- put in place by a Republican led congress in 1995 led to the birth of many of our charter schools. Hopkinson wrote:” if a school was deemed failing, students could transfer schools, opt to attend a charter school or receive a voucher to attend a private school. The idea was to introduce competition; good schools would survive; bad ones would disappear. It effectively created a second education system, which now enrolls nearly half the city’s public school students. The charters consistently perform worse than the traditional schools, yet they are rarely closed.”
The results of IFF’s study recommend that DC make major improvements or close thirty six under performing schools in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods or expand high performing charter schools. It’s a finding that heralds the continued growth of the charter schools sector at the expense of the D.C. Public Schools, if not its outright domination. While some people are questioning the motives of the Illinois Facilities Fund, the study is “likely to rekindle impassioned debate about possible school closures and the future of public education in the District,” Bill Turque notes. Officials tell Turque, education writer for the Post that any decisions about a “major restructuring” are at least a year and many community meetings away.
What comes as no surprise to anyone is that schools in ward 8 were identified as having the greatest need, according to the IFF study. The study recommended turning around or closing the following public schools: Simon, Patterson, Terrell-McGogney and Ferebee-Hope and closing two bottom-rung charter schools, Center City Congress Heights (pre-K to 8) and Imagine Southeast (pre-K to 5). H.D. Woodson Senior High School which is located in Ward 7 was also recommended for turn around or closure, a school which recently has undergone capital investment which cost millions of dollars in investment.
One of the things that I find disturbing about IFF’s report is the recommendation for DC to consider expanding charter schools in the 10 targeted neighborhood clusters and call for the DC Public Charter School Board to authorize about 6,500 new charter seats (current enrollment is about 32,000) while utilizing former public school buildings as incentives to get the public charter board to actively recruit the highest performing charter school operators to replicate their school models.
The writing should be on the wall for all of us to see. If it’s not, I don’t know what to tell you. From where I sit, this situation looks bleak for working, middle class families and many of our teachers in some of our poorest communities. The loss of our public schools is a disinvestment in our school communities and may lead to . . . → Read More: Is It Closing Time Again For More DC Public Schools?
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