FY17 Budget Testimony: District of Columbia Public Schools
Senior Policy Attorney Renee Murphy testified before the DC Council’s Committee on Education regarding the Mayor’s proposed FY17 budget for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). In her testimony, she focused specifically on the proposed budgets for special education and briefly discussed the funding for at-risk students; however, Renee noted she was not requesting increased funds for DCPS.
Regarding special education, Renee expressed concern that the proposed FY17 budget would not be sufficient to implement measures passed into law by the Enhanced Special Education Services Act of 2014, which requires DCPS to evaluate students within 60 days, rather than 120 days, starting in July 2017. She also highlighted recent analysis raising concerns about half of the “at-risk” resources being used to fund positions in DCPS’s comprehensive staffing model, rather than supplementing the school budgets, and suggested the Council continue to monitor “at-risk” funding utilization.
Click below to read her full testimony.