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The D.C. Council’s Committee of the Whole will soon deliberate on D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s , which, among several other things, rolls back accountability measures that the District’s education leaders haven’t followed for two consecutive budget cycles. 

If the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Support Act is passed in its current form, such accountability measures, originally outlined in the , would no longer exist. 

The Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act of 2021, approved without Bowser’s signature, requires, not only D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Dr. Lewis D.Ferebee’s submission of the school budget 42 days before the mayor’s budget proposal, but the funding of each public school at levels no lower than what they received during the last fiscal year. 

On Monday, Bowser, without hesitation, said that the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act was illegal because it impedes on the powers bestowed upon her as the District’s top executive. 

“It has everything to do with what the Home Rule charter gives the mayor and what powers it gives the council,” she told The Informer.

She said the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act threatens what she describes as progress made under mayoral control of schools. 

“It’s highly irresponsible to gut DCPS’ central office,” Bowser said. “I think it’s also folly to think that the progress that we achieved in our schools isn’t directly related to innovations at DCPS. We have tremendous schools, communities and principals, and they have the benefits of innovations we created at DCPS.” 

Exploring the Legality of the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act

As outlined in the Home Rule Act, the responsibilities of the D.C. mayor include the “proper execution of laws” relating to the District, and the “proper administration of the affairs of the District” under their jurisdiction or control. 

The mayor also administers laws related to the appointment, promotion, separation and other conditions of employment for Executive Office of the Mayor personnel. Additional rights include directing the activities of administrative boards, offices and agencies, enforcing administrative orders, and reorganizing offices, agencies and other entities within the executive branch of the District government. 

On Tuesday, the Office of the Attorney General declined to comment on the legality of the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act and whether it would pursue legal action should the law survive this budget season. 

Hours earlier, The Informer spoke to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who expressed confidence in the legal sufficiency of the law that he intends to keep intact at the end of the budget season. 

“We reviewed that when the bill was adopted in 2022 and we had our general counsel determine it legally sufficient,” Mendelson said. “It doesn’t violate the Home Rule Act or the Constitution… I’m convinced Mayor Bowser and Chancellor Ferebee have neither read or understood the law, because it’s completely sustainable. Schools east of the river need more, not less.” 

During an April 11 DCPS budget oversight hearing, Mendelson asked Ferebee what it would take for him to observe the budget submission deadline outlined in the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act. 

Mendelson went on to cite several schools — including Anacostia High School, Ballou High School, Johnson Middle School, Kelly Miller Middle School, and Ketcham Middle School  — would receive an additional $25 million under the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act. 

Ferebee later described the Schools First in Budgeting Amendment Act incompatible with the current system that allocates dollars to students needing support and follows students if they transfer to another school. 

Mendelson rebuffed the latter point, citing teachers and staffing cuts at some of the aforementioned schools. Days after the hearing, Mendelson continued to suggest some nefarious plans at hand. 

“I’m convinced the chancellor wants to cut schools over time,” he said. I’ve asked him several years for his plan for Anacostia and I get deflection at the hearings.” 

DCPS Central Office’s Three Budgets: A Subject-Matter Expert Weighs In 

Investments in Fiscal Year 2025 DCPS’ budget include reading clinics, a Dream Center where students, teachers and parents receive support, and math tutoring. Even with that, Ferebee contends that DCPS’ Fiscal Year 2025 budget cuts the central office budget via cuts to central office support roles, including COVID support, health technicians, and high-impact tutoring. 

On April 11, D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) questioned Ferebee about whether the central office was in fact shrinking. Before requesting staffing numbers from Ferebee, Parker cited compiled by lawyer and education finance analyst Mary Levy that showed an increase in central office staffing over the last four years. 

Later on in their exchange, Parker suggested that DCPS reduces central services and transfer those funds over to each school. Ferebee pushed back, saying that such a move would jeopardize services coming out of the central office, including substitute teachers. 

Weeks earlier, while speaking to The Informer, Ferebee said the current budget situation was part of “a year of right sizing” that requires principals and Local School Advisory Teams being strategic about using the school-based funds allocated to them. 

“We’ve been communicating that with our families proactively for some time and anticipating this day would come with no ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) dollars in our budget,” Ferebee said. “Even with reduction of full-time positions, we do see schools recognizing populations that need higher levels of support and budgeting accordingly… If we see an increase beyond projected enrollment, that’s something that we reconcile throughout the school.” 

A council staffer with knowledge of the budget told The Informer that how DCPS officials present the $1.1 billion school budget makes conversations about school funding all the more difficult. 

There are three DCPS budgets: one which can be seen on , a more accurate budget seen by school principals that shows only the dollar amount they control, and the budget compiled by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) that organizes funds by the agency from which it originates.  

The budget that’s publicly posted on DCPSBudget.com, according to the council staffer, inflates the amount allocated to each DCPS principal. They said that the D.C. Council and community members see a sum total of the dollars under the principals’ control and dollars exclusively controlled by OSSE and DCPS central services. 

Those OSSE/DCPS central office dollars often fund collective bargaining, background checks, and salaries for staff members at Title 1 schools, the council staffer said.  

While the difference between each school’s base allocation and what’s presented on DCPSBudget.com varies between schools, the staffer told The Informer that, on average, there’s an extra $7,000 per school being reported out to the D.C. Council and the public. 

Getting an accurate accounting of the total amount, they said, requires going through the OCFO’s budget and piecing together the dollars split between agencies. 

“For each campus, we have to stitch in the grant dollars that sit at OSSE,” the staffer said. “We have to go to OSSE’s books and take those dollars to add them to the budget. It’s something that’s hard to do publicly because it’s not presented at that level of granularity.”