Washington D.C. – Contemporary American Education

State profile project done by Rania Aminmohamed Janmohamed

Education Statistics:

All relevant data has been listed below, citations for all the data and the analysis as presented is attached with corresponding foot notes in this document

Total public school student population: 49,890 (20-21)
Total state public education budget: $1.17 billion
Public v. private school attendance: An estimated 15.5% of all k to 12 students in Washington DC attended Private schools.
Average per pupil expenditure: K-12 schools in DC spend $14,556 per pupil

High/low per pupil expenditure within state:

Highest school expenditure in DC is Ron Brown College Preparatory high school with an average spending per student of 24,659 dollars as of 2021.
Lowest School expenditure in DC is Watkins elementary school, Deal middle school and Wilson high school, with an average expenditure per student of 10,502 dollars as of 2021.
Average national per pupil expenditure: k-12 schools in the USA spend $14,455 per pupil

Student demographics (race/ethnicity, English Language Learners, poverty rates) figures from school year 2020 to 2021

% Student Population Black: 58%
% Student Population Hispanic: 21%
% Student Population White: 16%
% Student Population American Indian/ Alaska Native: <1%
% Student Population Asian: 2%
% Student Population in Special Education: 16%
% Student ELL: 15%
% Economically disadvantaged: 75% (Refers to students under the following characteristics at any point in time in the School Year: Receiving free or reduced price lunch, attending a school where the entire population received FRL, eligible to receive TANF or SNAP benefits, identified as homeless, under the care of CFSA)
% At risk: 42% (Students who are at risk are those who qualify for Temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), identified as homeless, under the care of Child and family services agency, and who are high school students at least a year older than the expected age of their grade).

Graduation rates (total, and by demographics)

4 year Graduation rate: 72.63%
American Indian/ Alaskan 4 year Graduation rate: 93.7%
Asian Four year graduation rate: 89.01%
Black/ African- American four year graduation rate: 70.64%
Hispanic/ Latino four year graduation rate: 69.77%
White four year graduation rate: 89.91%
At risk four year graduation rate: 61.90%
Children in foster care four year graduation rate: 36.61%
English Language Learners: 59.72%
Students experiencing homelessness: 52.88%
Students with disabilities: 53.63%

Average teacher salary:

Based of 2019 pay schedule and an average of salaries from Indeed.com
Average salary→ $76,893
Highest salary possible with an undergraduate degree and 21+ years of service (fiscal year 2019 DCPS) → $ 86,245
Lowest starting salary possible with an undergraduate degree (fiscal year 2019 DCPS) → $61,691

Teacher unions and collective bargaining

There is a presence of teacher unions in Washington DC with the WTU (Washington Teachers union) a chapter under the American . Regarding position compensation for teachers, the WTU has had a collective bargaining agreement with the District of Columbia Public schools, attached is the Collective bargaining contract for 2019 from the DCPS official website.

Image obtained from: https://www.wtulocal6.net/membership

Merit pay for teachers (in state or district):

IMPACTplus is a performance based merit pay system for members of Washington Teacher’s union who are evaluated under IMPACT. Impact is a way for the DCPS to acknowledge the work and efforts of educators. Every year WTU members receive an IMPACT rating, if they receive a rating of Highly Effective, they are bumped to IMPACTplus, which comes in the form of an annual bonus and increase in base salary if consecutive highly effective ratings are received. Highly effective teachers can receive up to $25,000 in annual bonuses with an increase in base salary of $25,700.

Data Analysis:

Washington DC public schools (DCPS) remain as one of the most racially divided school districts in the United States, with significant socially and economically dependent education access. This can be seen in the student population statistics and graduation rates of the DCPS. 58% of the public school system is made up of black students, and 16% of the population is white. Out of the entire 72.63% four year graduation rate of DCPS, 70.64% of those graduates are Black/African American students, and 89.91% of the graduates are white students. These statistics may just seem correspondent with the demographics of the district, however when one takes a look into the school expenditure at various wards (areas in DC, specifically W. DC) and budget allocations this demographic plays into a historic institutionalized racial bias that was introduced when the DC public school systems were being desegregated. The graduation rates, student population demographics and school expenditure are all correlated with the geographical areas of Washington DC.

As the great equalizer of conditions, public schools in Washington are not playing into the vision of education visionary Horace Mann. Washington, D.C is split into eight wards, to understand educational inequity, it is necessary to understand the injustice in various urban areas. Ward 3, is a wealthy area in Washington, with only 2% of inhabitants not receiving a high school diploma, Ward 8 however is one of the poorer wards with a stark 17%. Looking at the demographics of Ward 3, 81.42% of the population is white, with 5.26% of the inhabitants being black/ African American. Black/ African American persons make up 91.61% of the population of ward 8, with 4.38% white persons living in the area. Given that 75% of students in the DCPS are economically disadvantaged, it is clear that there is a racial and geographical factor contributing to the 17% of a predominantly Black/African American ward not receiving a high school diploma. With poor facilities, like those reported in ward 8, show that students do not have the resources and support they need to get high test scores and even graduate high school. Underfunded and under maintained school facilities in the ward, also contribute to higher stress levels of teachers who have to inherently contribute to facilities for students reducing the appeal to work and teacher retention.

A contemporary issue that this trend comes to sight is in the reopening plans of the Washington DC public schools in 2021. In the beginning of last year as schools got ready to re-open in Washington DC, educators, students and parents noticed more clearly the disproportions of resources in the city’s many neighborhoods. Schools in wealthier wards opened with maximum capacity, whereas schools in poorer wards remained with lower in-person student rates due to high numbers of families opting to keep their children under virtual learning. This disparity in acceptances of seats for schooling was seen in the socio economic impacts of the devastating pandemic on various families. Taking a school in Northwest Washington as an example, a parent was able to accept seats to an in person public school due to the fact that her children really wanted to go to school, and the school had all the resources to take precautions to keep the students safe. However another student who lives in Northeast Washington in a predominantly low income neighborhood, had to deny the slot, due to issues with access to public transport and coordinating the hybrid virtual and physical classes with commutes to his job and extra curricular programs. The DCPS can offer spots, however those spots are pointless if students do not have the resources and confidence to take part in physical learning and be successful, due to socio economic differences. To further read up on this case study please use the link.

Based on the education statistics and case studies used, it is clear that the state is aware of these inequities, there is clear evidence of the state addressing and gradually beginning to overcome inequities. In the fiscal year of 2022, the DCPS projected that there would be significant declines in enrollment in Wards 4, 7 and 8, these wards specifically serve a large percentage of Black and Latinx students, along with students from low income families. Due to the projected decrease, the released budgets for 2023 showed a cut in budgets for schools in those wards. However this was of great concern to schools in the ward because they would not be able to keep up with real costs with the budget for the coming school year. However for the year 2023 the Mayor of DC has proposed an increase of 5.9% in the funding formula for students along with a set of funds that should help stabilize budgets for schools. This is a good change, as the new budget model gives teachers and schools more flexibility in how they can spend the money on students and invest in improving access and quality of their education. However it is important to understand that just increasing the amount of money a school has doesn’t change the racist and inequitable structure the school system is built upon, it definitely helps in meeting more needs, however to achieve sustainable changes and improvements, it is necessary for the DCPS to take into consideration teacher education, curriculum structure and welfare strategies (and best practices).

In the news: ED in Washington D.C

Image obtained from https://www.dccoreunion.org/

Inside The Divide Over The Future Of The Washington Teachers’ Union

References

2021 DC School Report Card. (2021). Office of the State Superintendent of Education. https://osse.dc.gov/dcschoolreportcard/academic-performance
Cunha, E. (2020, July 8). Washington DC schools must be desegregated, ending ward disparities. The DC Post. https://thedcpost.com/washington-dc-schools-desegregation/
DC Health Matters. (2022). Population Data for Ward: Ward 3. https://www.dchealthmatters.org/demographicdata?id=131490§ionId=935/
DC Health Matters. (2022). Summary Data for Ward: Ward 8. https://www.dchealthmatters.org/demographicdata?id=131495
DC Public Schools. (2020). Per Student Funding. DCPS Budget. https://dcpsbudget.ourdcschools.org/
District of Columbia Public Schools. (2019). FY 2017- 2019 EG 09 Salary Schedule. DCPS. https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/publication/attachments/EG-9%20FY%202017-2019%20Pay%20Schedule.pdf
District of Columbia Public Schools. (2019). Compensation and Benefits for Teachers. https://dcps.dc.gov/page/compensation-and-benefits-teachers
District of Columbia Public Schools. (2021). DCPS at a Glance: Enrollment. https://dcps.dc.gov/page/dcps-glance-enrollment
DME Office of the deputy mayor for Education. (2019). Private school enrollment. EDSCAPE. https://edscape.dc.gov/page/pop-and-students-private-school-enrollment
Hanson, M. (2022, March 15). U.S. public education spending statistics. Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics#washington
Huddleston, Q., & Johnson, M. (2022, March 14). New DC public schools budget model makes progress towards more transparency and flexibility, but falls short on addressing structural funding inadequacy and inequity. DC Fiscal Policy Institute. https://www.dcfpi.org/all/new-dc-public-schools-budget-model-makes-progress-towards-more-transparency-and-flexibility-but-falls-short-on-addressing-structural-funding-inadequacy-and-inequity/
Indeed. (2022). District of Columbia public schools teacher salaries in Washington. Indeed.com. Retrieved May 9, 2022, from https://www.indeed.com/cmp/District-of-Columbia-Public-Schools/salaries/teacher/Washington-DC?from=career
Stein, P. (2021, January 30). The racial disparities over who is returning to D.C. classrooms puts equity spotlight on reopening plan. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/washington-schools-reopening/2021/01/30/db479122-6009-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html
Truong, D. (2022, March 1). Inside the divide over the future of the Washington teachers’ union. DCist. https://dcist.com/story/22/03/01/washington-teachers-union-dc-divide/