§ 38–2906.02. Payments to public charter schools.

(a) The Mayor shall make payments to each public charter school from the escrow account established under § 38-1804.03 to a bank designated by each school. The annual payment shall be made in the form of quarterly payments calculated in accordance with this section; provided, that the entire annual payment for facilities calculated pursuant to § 38-2908 shall be included in the first payment of the fiscal year and that any payment for new charter schools determined pursuant to § 38-1804.03 shall also be included in the first payment of the fiscal year. The first payment shall be made no later than July 15. Subsequent payments shall be made no later than October 25, January 15, and April 15.

(b) Payments shall be determined as follows:

(1) The basis of the July 15 payment to a public charter school shall be the estimate used in the June 30 quarterly reports submitted by the eligible chartering authorities pursuant to § 38-1804.02(a) and shall be 35% of an existing school's entitlement, and 45% of the entitlement for a newly chartered school in its first school year of operation.

(2) The basis of the October 25 payment shall be the unverified October enrollment numbers for that school contained in the reports submitted by the eligible chartering authorities by October 15 and shall be equal to 60% of an existing school's entitlement and 70% of the entitlement for a newly chartered school in its first school year of operation, less amounts paid in July.

(3) The basis of the January 15 payment shall be the unverified October enrollment numbers for that school contained in reports submitted by the eligible chartering authorities by October 15 and shall be equal to 80% of an existing school's entitlement and 85% of the entitlement for a newly chartered school in its first school year of operation, less amounts paid in July and October.

(4) The basis of the April 15 payment shall be the verified October enrollment numbers and shall be equal to 100% of the school’s entitlement less amounts paid in July, October, and January; provided, that these amounts shall be adjusted in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section.

(c) Payments shall not be reduced or delayed pending the conduct and results of the verification prescribed by § 38-2906(d). If the verification finds that the number of verified resident students enrolled at any public charter school differs from that on which its July 15 and October 25 payments were based, the Mayor shall recalculate the appropriate amount of subsequent payments accordingly, adjusting them by the amount of the discrepancy.

(c-1)(1) Notwithstanding subsections (b), (c), (d), and (g) of this section, for School Year 2020-2021, the annual payment pursuant to the Funding Formula for each adult education program and each residential public charter school shall equal the total estimated costs for the number of District resident students projected to be enrolled in the adult education program or the residential public charter school, during School Year 2020-2021, including the costs of all add-on components provided in §§ 38-2905 and 38-2905.01, based on the program or school's enrollment projections contained in the Mayor's Fiscal Year 2021 proposed budget, as modified pursuant to § 38-2906(e).

(2)(A) The first quarterly payment shall be 35% of a school's annual payment.

(B) A school's October 25, January 15, and April 15 payments shall each equal 1/3 of the school's total remaining annual payment after the first quarterly payment is made.

(3) For the purposes of this subsection, the term:

(A) "Adult education program" means a public charter school or a program in a public charter school that, during School Year 2019-2020, was identified as an adult education performance management framework school by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.

(B) "Residential public charter school" means a public charter school that, during School Year 2019-2020, provided a majority of its students with room and board in a residential setting, in addition to their instructional program.

(d)(1)(A) Payments for special education, limited English proficient students, at-risk students, and other add-on components of the Funding Formula shall be included in the quarterly payments to public charter schools.

(B) Payments shall reflect one-quarter of the annual per student amount for each add-on; provided, that add-ons for special education students shall be added on a pro-rata basis from the date on which a public charter school begins to provide add-on services for such students, as set forth in subsection (g)(1) of this section.

(C) Charter schools shall receive the full annual per-pupil payment for at-risk or limited English proficient students who are enrolled by October 5, but who are not designated as at-risk or limited English proficient students until after October 5.

(2)(A) Payments for summer school shall be made by the Chief Financial Officer on April 15 on the basis of a funding schedule from the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board listing each charter school offering a summer school program in accordance with the requirements of § 38-1804.01(b)(3)(B).

(B) The Office of the State Superintendent of Education shall certify enrollment projections based upon information contained in the state education longitudinal data system that form the basis of the funding schedule. The payment amount shall be equal to 75% of the total summer school entitlement for each charter school.

(C) Not later than August 25 of each year, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education shall certify the final actual summer school enrollment for each charter school. The final payment for summer school will be issued to each charter school not later than September 30 of each year and shall be equal to the remainder of the school’s entitlement.

(3) Payments for the Special Education Extended School Year add-on shall be made in full to each charter school by the Chief Financial Officer following certification of the actual enrollment for each school by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

(e) Prior to, or concurrent with, any payment made pursuant to this section, the Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia shall provide to each public charter school an accounting indicating the purpose of the payment and how the payment was calculated.

(f) During any period in which payments to public charter schools become due on a date when District funding is authorized pursuant to a continuing resolution rather than pursuant to an appropriations act, the Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia shall provide payments for new public charter schools and increased enrollments in other public charter schools from any unexpended and unobligated funds.

(g)(1) Charter schools may receive payment on a pro-rata basis from the date on which the school begins providing special education services to students enrolled by October 5, who are identified as requiring an individualized education program ("IEP") or as needing an increased IEP after October 5.

(2) Upon application to and at the discretion of the Chief Financial Officer, the supplemental payments for the special education students available pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be disbursed in addition to the quarterly payments made pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(h) If an eligible charter authority proposes to revoke the charter of a public charter school as described in § 38-1802.13 during any period prior to a July 15 payment, consistent with this section, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”) shall hold the July 15 payment in escrow pending a final decision by the eligible charter authority. Upon a final revocation decision, the Mayor shall have no obligation to release the escrow funds. The OSSE, in its discretion, may approve the distribution of the July 15 payment as it considers appropriate.

(Mar. 26, 1999, D.C. Law 12-207, § 107b; as added Apr. 13, 2005, D.C. Law 15-348, § 101(d), 52 DCR 1991; Oct. 20, 2005, D.C. Law 16-33, § 4012(e), 52 DCR 7503; Mar. 2, 2007, D.C. Law 16-192, § 4002(f), 53 DCR 6899; Sept. 14, 2011, D.C. Law 19-21, § 4032, 58; Dec. 24, 2013, D.C. Law 20-61, § 4022, 60 DCR 12472; Oct. 8, 2016, D.C. Law 21-160, §§ 4062, 4092, 63 DCR 10775; Dec. 13, 2017, D.C. Law 22-33, § 4153(b), 64 DCR 7652; Dec. 3, 2020, D.C. Law 23-149, § 4042, 67 DCR 10493.)

Section References

This section is referenced in § 38-1804.03.

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 16-33, rewrote subsec. (b).

D.C. Law 16-192 rewrote subsec. (b); and added subsecs. (f) and (g).

D.C. Law 19-21 added subsec. (h).

The 2013 amendment by D.C. Law 20-61 rewrote (a) and (b); designated the existing text of (d) as (d)(1) and added “as set forth in subsection (g) of this section” to the end; and added (d)(2) and (d)(3).

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 4153(b) of Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2017 (D.C. Act 22-167, Oct. 24, 2017, 64 DCR 10802).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 4153(b) of Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2017 (D.C. Act 22-104, July 20, 2017, 64 DCR 7032).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 4012(e) of Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2005 (D.C. Act 16-168, July 26, 2005, 52 DCR 7667).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 4002(f) of Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2006 (D.C. Act 16-477, August 8, 2006, 53 DCR 7068).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 4002(f) of Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2006 (D.C. Act 16-499, October 23, 2006, 53 DCR 8845).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 4002(f) of Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2007 (D.C. Act 17-1, January 16, 2007, 54 DCR 1165).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 4032 of Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2011 (D.C. Act 19-93, June 29, 2011, 58 DCR 5599).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 4022 of the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2013 (D.C. Act 20-130, July 30, 2013, 60 DCR 11384, 20 DCSTAT 1827).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 4022 of the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2013 (D.C. Act 20-204, October 17, 2013, 60 DCR 15341, 20 DCSTAT 2311).

Short Title

Short title: Section 4031 of D.C. Law 19-21 provided that subtitle D of title IV of the act may be cited as “Charter School Payment Advance Amendment Act of 2011”.

Section 4021 of D.C. Law 20-61 provided that Subtitle B of Title IV of the act may be cited as the “Public Charter Schools Payment Improvement Amendment Act of 2013”.

Editor's Notes

Section 301 of D.C. Law 22-124 provided that the changes made to this section by D.C. Law 22-124 shall apply as of October 1, 2017.

For payments to puclic charter schools in Fiscal Year 2018, see section 204 of D.C. Law 22-124.

Applicability of D.C. Law 20-61: Section 11001 of D.C. Law 20-61 provided that, except as otherwise provided, the act shall apply as of October 1, 2013.