Budget Update May, 4 2008
On Saturday, May 03, 2008, I attended a DCPS training for local school restructuring team (LSRT) members about the budget for the upcoming school year. While the Murch Development Team (MDT--which is Murch’s LSRT) will be meeting to discuss the budget at a special meeting on Monday, May 5th at 5:00, I wanted to share the information I learned, especially in response to rumors that have started to circulate.
Under the new Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, DCPS is changing the way resources are allocated to each school. Under the old system, the district allocated resources to each school using a weighted student formula, and the school, through the LSRT, had some discretion as to which positions to fill. Under the new system, the district will allocate specific positions to each school based on enrollment. This gives less discretion to each school to determine its own staffing, but ensures that all schools have a core staffing pattern that DCPS has determined is necessary for high achievement.
The new DCPS staffing pattern does not mirror the pattern that exists at any particular school, including Murch. It includes some positions that Murch does not now have, and omits some that we do have. For instance, the DCPS staffing pattern allocates to schools that are Murch's size an assistant principal, a literacy coach, a social worker, and additional teachers that we do not now have. However, it omits some positions, include classroom aides beyond pre-K.
The good news is that schools like Murch that are ‘high performing’ are offered the opportunity to petition for variances in the DCPS staffing pattern when they can show that these variances will support their high achievement. Principal Lewis has already submitted a petition to DCPS for variances to retain Murch staff not included in the DCPS staffing pattern, including the retention of classroom aides. In the event that DCPS denies the petition, HSA would have the option of funding some additional aides, and Ms. Lewis has already designed a proposal to bring to HSA’s executive board to fund additional aide positions. Finally, Principal Lewis has already confirmed that even if the DCPS petition for more aides is denied, and there is no more support forthcoming from HSA, there will still be an aide in every Pre-K and in every K classroom, and there will also be 3.5 aides that will be shared between grades 1-6.
We will discuss this further at MDT on Monday, and should hear about the progress of Murch’s petition next week. In the meantime, in the presentation on Saturday, it was made very clear that the process for requesting changes to individual school allocations is to go through the petition process which is done by the principal in consultation with the MDT. Ms. Lewis has already begun the petition process, which will presented to the MDT on Monday.
Amanda Broun
MDT Co-chair
