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Report: Savings marginal after D.C. Public Schools closes schools | WashingtonExaminer.com

Report: Savings marginal after D.C. Public Schools closes schools | WashingtonExaminer.com


Report: Savings marginal after D.C. Public Schools closes schools

January 15, 2013 | 8:00 pm 


Rachel Baye

Staff writer - Montgomery County





Closing 20 DC Public Schools will save the school system barely more money than it will cost to close them, according to a report released Tuesday by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, or DCFPI.
While closing the proposed schools could save DC Public Schools $10.4 million in the 2013-2014 school year, consolidating them could cost $10.2 million, significantly reducing the overall savings, the analysis by D.C. education finance analyst Mary Levy found.
When the District closed 23 schools in 2008 -- the last time the District shuttered a large group of schools -- the process cost the school system $39.5 million, roughly $30 million more than anticipated, according to a D.C. audit released in September.
Source: DC Fiscal Policy Institute
The price of education
Cost savings for 15 proposed school closings
WardSchoolEstimated savings
7Ronald H. Brown Middle School$772,832
7Davis Elementary School-$78,121
8Ferebee-Hope Elementary School$615,165
2Francis-Stevens Education Campus$1,563,610
2Garrison Elementary School$256,100
8Johnson Middle School$369,438
7Kenilworth Elementary School$101,840
4MacFarland Middle School$441,182
8Malcolm X Elementary School$413,764
5Marshall Elementary School$463,856
1Shaw Middle School-$193,537
7Smothers Elementary School$90,550
5Spingarn High School$2,846,851
8M.C. Terrell/McGogney Elementary School$537,284
7Winston Education Campus$1,474,990
DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson proposed in November closing 20 schools at the end of the current school year to conserve resources, but she has not said how much money she expects to save with the plan. The final list of school closings is scheduled for release this week.
Henderson spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz did not return requests for comment.
"One of the main arguments in the DCPS proposal for school closure and consolidation is that the small schools are inefficient and require additional funding from the school system to operate," the DC Fiscal Policy Institute's report says. However, the difference in per-pupil costs at a small school compared with those at a large school turn out to be