Dear Chairman Mendelson and Members of the DC Council,

We, the undersigned, are writing as parents, educators, and voters who have chosen DC public charter schools for our children. We come from different neighborhoods and different backgrounds, but we share the belief that every child in this city deserves an equal share of the public funding that taxpayers provide for education — regardless of which public school their family chooses.

We want to start by acknowledging reality. The FY2027 budget reflects a genuinely difficult fiscal moment. Federal workforce reductions and the lingering effects of the pandemic have strained city revenues, and we recognize that education has been protected more than many other areas of the budget. We don't take that for granted.

However, we are deeply concerned that the proposed FY2027 budget creates a significant funding disparity between DC Public Schools (DCPS) and DC public charter schools. Nearly half of DC families (about 48% of enrolled students) have actively chosen charter schools, whether drawn by the model and mission or because of a concern that their local DCPS school may not meet their children’s needs . These are public schools, serving the same kids, funded by the same taxpayers. Yet this budget directs roughly $96 million in additional resources to DCPS that charter schools simply do not receive.

Here is what the proposed budget does:

All public school students receive the same base per-pupil funding through the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula. But outside that formula, the proposed budget shifts $59.4 million in DCPS facility costs — things like utilities and waste management — to the Department of General Services, effectively subsidizing DCPS operating expenses with no equivalent relief for charters.  In addition, the budget provides a carve-out for DCPS teacher bonuses, which charter school teachers do not receive.

The effect is that DCPS's day-to-day operating costs are subsidized in ways that charter schools' are not, amounting to roughly $2,000 less per student for every child enrolled in a charter school. For an average charter school of 350 students, that's $700,000 a year — enough to employ seven teachers or build two playgrounds. And this doesn't even account for the capital and facilities support that DCPS has historically received, which is increased in the proposed DCPS capital budget, while charter schools are receiving no increase in facilities payments, even as costs are rising.

This is not about asking for more in a tight budget year. This is about the same taxpayer dollars being distributed unequally between two types of public schools serving the same children in this city. Charter schools already stretch every facility dollar further — and are being asked to absorb costs that DCPS does not bear.

The impact is real and immediate. Schools across the city are facing cuts to teacher compensation, instructional supplies, field experiences, and the programs that make our schools distinctive and effective. Retaining and fairly compensating excellent teachers — the single most important factor in a child's education — is becoming harder each year as operating costs rise and funding falls behind.

We are not asking for more than our fair share. We are asking for our fair share.

We urge the Council to invest in DC's future by ensuring all public school students — charter and traditional alike — are funded equally by only allocating education funding through the UPSFF, with no exceptions and no workarounds. And we ask that FY2027 and every future budget honor the promise of the 1995 School Reform Act: that charter schools receive uniform per-pupil public funding, full stop.

We recognize the difficulty of this moment. We are not asking for easy answers. We are asking for fairness and for the Council to stand with the nearly half of DC's public school families who have entrusted their children to charter schools.

Our children are your constituents. Our tax dollars fund this system. We ask you to ensure that those dollars reach every public school child equally.

Thank you for your time, your service, and your commitment to this city's families. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you directly.

Respectfully,