The District plans to lease a vacant campus in Southeast Washington, potentially paving the way for a charter school to take over a public school building for the first time during Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s five-year tenure.
The deputy mayor for education, Paul Kihn, said the city no longer needs the building that housed Ferebee-Hope Elementary School, which was shut down in 2013 along with more than a dozen other city campuses facing declining enrollment.
The announcement comes as charter schools clamor for facilities, with advocates blasting Bowser (D) for holding on to empty campuses when charters could use them. Charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated, are responsible for securing their own buildings, and they often construct campuses or retrofit facilities that were not designed as schools. The District’s charter board recently approved the opening of five new campuses in 2020.
Related Articles: