Our budget next year includes more than $50 million in new funding to support schools (an eight percent increase from last year!) Here’s where it will go.
1. Schools with middle grades will have the opportunity to extend the school day to 4:15pm to add more time for learning.
2. Every 8th grader will have the chance to take algebra, foreign language, art, music, and PE.
3. Moving from childhood to adolescence can be rough. We’ll help students transition into their teenage years by offering more guidance counselors and other social and emotional supports.
4. We’ll offer extended day programs to any of our 21 lowest performing elementary schools.
5. More staff and community partners will come on board to help our students improve in reading and writing.
6. We’ll work to make sure our students come to school and better monitor their attendance and progress.
7. We’ve pledged $5 million (or about $100 per student) to help our schools become places where students love to spend their time. This includes money to support field trips, extra-curricular activities, clubs, new athletic teams, and anti-bullying efforts.
8. We’ll hire dozens of educators to account for the 1,200 new students we will have in our schools next year.
9. We’ll sustain our previous investments so that every elementary school student continues to receive weekly time in art, music, PE, and foreign language and regular library services.
10. Special education staff will be added so that more of our students with special needs receive the best education possible in their neighborhood school.
11. We’ll add more specially-trained teachers, aides, and counselors to meet the needs of our growing English language learner population.
12. We’ll add more custodial staff to help keep our schools safe and clean, in direct response to concerns from students.
13. We will establish a true STEM Academy at HD Woodson High School.
14. We will invest resources into reopening the Van Ness Elementary School, Spingarn High School, and Brookland Middle School and to create a selective middle school east of the river.
15. We will develop a strategic plan to radically improve the success of our young black men in DCPS.