Testimony: At-Risk Funding for Public Schools 2016
Senior Policy Attorney Renee Murphy testified for the DC Council’s Committee on Education regarding “at-risk” funding for public schools in the District of Columbia. The “at-risk” weight to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula was added when the Council passed the “Fair Student Funding and School Based Budgeting Act of 2013.”
In her testimony, Renee provided several recommendations for services and supports that schools should be funding with “at-risk” supplements. In addition to trauma-sensitive schools, expanded mental health resources, proven programs that give teachers alternatives to suspension, and programs proven effective to improve academic achievement, Renee recommended that schools invest in supports specific to foster and homeless youth, such as staffing and policies, to ensure fast and smooth school transfers, credit recovery with all the supports needed for students, and transportation.
Click below to read her full testimony.