Community groups are calling on the District to expand the definition of who is considered at-risk for academic failure, spurring discussion about which students would benefit most from extra funding.
It’s not a question that city leaders are poised to tackle this budget cycle, but a coalition of more than 40 groups say the need is urgent, particularly after the turbulent year of virtual learning appears to have worsened the city’s already wide achievement gap between White students and students of color.
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“The past two years have been a collective trauma for our students, schools, and communities,” the DC Students Succeed Coalition wrote in a letter to top city leaders pushing for more education funding. “Layered on top of the deadly pandemic that wrought so much personal pain and loss, our students experienced disrupted learning, acute mental health challenges, social isolation, and an upheaval of their childhood.”
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Currently, D.C. distributes extra local dollars to educate students who are homeless or in foster care, whose families qualify for food stamps and to students who are in high school and have been held back at least one year. Based on this criteria, 47 percent of the city’s more than 95,000 public school children are considered at-risk. The at-risk money — nearly $3,000 per student — is one slice of a complicated school funding formula and is distributed on top of the standard money that is allocated to each student.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) proposed in February a massive $2.2 billion education budget — a 5.9 percent increase over the current year that amounts to a base-level funding of $12,419 per student.
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The groups want the at-risk funding to extend to students who have an incarcerated parent, and those who are connected to the Child and Families Services Agency, even if they are not in foster care. They also want students who are undocumented immigrants or whose parents are undocumented to be included. While schools are prohibited from asking children their immigration status, advocates say the city has enough information to properly target these funds to the right schools and grade levels.
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And if advocates get their demands, the biggest change to the at-risk pool would be the inclusion of adult learners — older students who are in specialized public programs to receive their high school diplomas or certification in some trades. The city’s more than 3,000 adult learners receive a base funding of around $11,000.
Families do not typically know if their children are considered “at-risk,” but the majority of the money is supposed to follow the students to the traditional public or charter school they attend.
“A lot of my students have little kids and helping the parents of at-risk students helps at-risk students,” said Nicole Hanrahan, executive director of LAYC Career Academy, an adult education charter school. “This is a good return of investment. This is good policy.”
The District established the “at-risk” funding law in 2013. The extra money for these students is supposed to alleviate the effects of poverty, which can make learning more challenging. The funds could be used to pay for extra reading specialists, music teachers, or extended day programs.
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But numerous investigations and reports have determined that the city often spends this money incorrectly, using it to pay for routine costs instead of on programs to supplement basic school offerings. In some instances, that’s because many schools with high concentrations of at-risk students are under-enrolled and smaller schools are more expensive to operate. These schools’ budgets don’t stretch as far as larger schools, so principals end up spending the money on basic staffing that other schools can cover with their baseline budgets.
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Hanrahan said there is great need for this money in her adult education school. One third of her students who have a high school diploma are reading at an elementary school level, she said. She would use the money to hire more reading specialists and mental health workers.
The District says it has invested more resources in its most vulnerable students in recent years. Last year, the city increased the at-risk funding weight — a percentage of the base funding per student that is used to determine how much additional funding goes to at-risk students. There’s a separate weight for students who are receiving special education services and are learning English as a second language. While the at-risk weight is not expected to increase next year, a larger baseline per-pupil funding means that targeted funding will rise as well.
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The Bowser administration said it has increased the funding that goes toward students who are considered over-aged in high school and secondary English language learners. Between 2021 and 2022, the city distributed an additional $21 million to English language learners, which typically goes toward paying for bilingual and specially trained staff.
“We are confident that the current [per student funding formula] and its corresponding at-risk weight, is an effective model for getting dollars to students who need it most and ensuring that they not only stay in school, but succeed in school,” Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn wrote in a statement. "We have continued to adjust the [formula] over time and we are always open to considerations of how to build on the Mayor’s targeted investments and ensure even greater equity in our system.”
In addition to expanding the eligibility for at-risk funding, the DC Students Coalition also asked that the funding go up for each student — from around 25 percent of the base-level funding to 37 percent. The group also urged the city to change the name of the funding category from “at-risk” to “equity,” saying at-risk is a “pejorative, inaccurate, and inadequate” label.
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The D.C. Policy Center, a local research group, crunched the numbers and determined that expanding the eligibility for at-risk funds could cost the city anywhere between $20 and $33 million each year. Analysts figured that many children who would fall under these new categories already qualify for at-risk funding because their families qualify for food stamps.
D.C. Policy Center Executive Director Yesim Sayin Taylor and education analyst Chelsea Coffin said the biggest new expense would be tied to adult learners, who do not currently receive any at-risk funding. That would cost about $10 million at the current at-risk funding amount.
City data shows that around 1,700 children currently are involved with the Child and Families Services Agency, but live at home.
The analysts extrapolated from available national and local data on incarceration and undocumented immigrant rates to determine how much more money would be needed for these students.
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They assumed most students that have a parent who is incarcerated qualify for food stamps and are already eligible for at-risk funding. They believe adding these students could cost any where from $1.9 million to $2.8 million.
“When we talk about at-risk, most of what that is talking about is kids that have a lot of transience in their lives,” said Maya Martin Cadogan, executive director of Parents Amplifying Voices in Education, a parent advocacy group that is part of the coalition. “They are housing unstable because of the economic issues that are part of D.C. They are migrant children. Their families are in and out of jail systems, which creates instability. Are we making sure we are taking care of them?”