D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10-A, § 1208
1208.1 An important long-range planning objective is to align DCPS and public charter school enrollment projections with the Comprehensive Plan’s demographic forecasts. The Comprehensive Plan can aid DCPS by identifying the specific schools that may be most impacted by increased in-boundary enrollment from new development and therefore most in need of future expansion. As an example, population forecasts used in 2016 for the Comprehensive Plan amendment process were used to develop student population projections to support the proposed 2018 MFP.
1208.2 In Washington, DC, the relationship between new housing construction and school planning is complex. Public school enrollment policies allow students to enroll in their in-boundary DCPS school and apply to enroll in an out-of-boundary DCPS school, a public charter school, or any other District-wide or selective DCPS school. Thus, students often travel to schools in other parts of the District, leading to significant out-of-boundary enrollment at many DCPS facilities and to public charter schools far from students’ homes. Figure 12.2 shows the share of students who enroll in the different types of schools in SY2016-17 and how many students enroll in their own ward of residence. This complexity makes projecting enrollment at DCPS and public charter schools challenging.
1208.2a DCPS Boundary and Student Assignment Policy Review
In 2013-2014, DME and DCPS led a comprehensive review process of student assignment policies and DCPS school boundaries. The process culminated in a series of recommendations made by the DC Advisory Committee on Student Assignment that were fully adopted by the Mayor and chancellor at that time. Implementation of the recommendations began in 2015. In its Final Recommendations on Student Assignment Policies and DCPS School Boundaries, the committee noted that, “The overwhelming input from parents and District residents was that families want a District-wide system of neighborhood public schools that is equitably invested in and provides predictable and fair access to high-quality schools in all of the city’s communities.”
1208.3 Figure 12.2: Share of All Students by Public School Type (SY2016-17)
(Source: DME)
1208.4 The Comprehensive Plan cannot predict who will actually occupy new housing units and whether they will be singles or families with children. Increases in enrollment may also take place in established neighborhoods as the existing housing stock changes hands—even though very little new construction is occurring. In addition, a higher percentage of students may choose to attend public schools rather than private schools in the future.
1208.5 Aggregate projections indicate the need to coordinate the growth of educational facilities with the growth of housing in some parts of the District, driving recommendations in the proposed 2018 MFP to consider incentives for developers to include educational space in future mixed-use developments, consider establishing impact fees on new development projects to contribute to the costs of providing services to new developments, including education, and investigate the inclusion of educational uses into the development plans for large public vacant parcels.
1208.6 Notwithstanding these challenges, a Council-approved MFP will enable the District to align population growth forecasts, estimated school needs, and
facilities planning to better anticipate facilities' space needs. This will include facility utilization data as well as population trend and forecast information from the District's OP State Data Center to inform enrollment projections. Given that population and enrollment growth lagged projections even before COVID, it will be important to update population and enrollment projections after the completion of the 2020 Census.
1208.7 In addition to the proposed 2018 MFP, the District launched EdScape Beta, the educational landscape, in 2019. This online tool provides a comprehensive set of interactive visualizations and downloadable datasets on topics essential to inform and coordinate the opening and siting of programs and schools in Washington, DC. This information, as updated on an ongoing basis, can support data transparency and help build a coherent public education system as well. EdScape Beta is intended to help inform whether and where new schools, programs, or facility capacity may be needed, and to provide the public with the same information available to policy-makers for transparency purposes. Together, a Council-approved MFP and EdScape Beta will help assess overcrowding and identify strategies to address it.
1208.8 As of 2017, the District's OP State Data Center forecasts a sizable increase in children, particularly infants, toddlers, and elementary-age children, over the next 10 years. These forecasts assume age cohort movement and population net migration. Recent forecasts indicate a net population increase of 114,954 people over the 10 years spanning 2015-2025, with an average growth of 11,500 people each year. The District's total population will continue to increase but at a slower rate: from an annual change of 1.9 percent in 2015, to 1.6 percent in 2020, to 1.5 percent in 2025.
1208.9 For the District's youth population aged 0-17 years, the forecast points to an additional 21,090 (23 percent) youth from 2017-2025. With a total forecasted youth population of 144,250 in 2025, this number will comprise 18.3 percent of the total District population, up from 18 percent in 2017. The 0-17 age group is expected to increase but will do so at a declining annual rate of 2.1 percent by 2020, to 2.0 percent by 2025. The 2018 MFP provided estimated DCPS school-level enrollment projections, estimations of sector enrollment (DCPS and public charter schools), and a gap analysis of facility needs at various scales such as District-wide and ward-level.
1208.10 Over the last 10 years, the District has made great strides toward inclusively rebuilding its educational infrastructure and attracting families back to Washington, DC and to public education, reversing the decline in enrollment the District experienced previously. With the forecasted growth in population, the District should approach the disposition of surplus DCPS school facilities for non-educational use with great caution. Given the high cost and limited supply of land,
the District should retain as many of its assets as possible, employing interim use strategies for the short or mid-term to achieve this goal if necessary. As spatial mismatches between growth and capacity occur, boundary adjustments, grade realignments, and facility expansion should be considered to avoid overcrowding.
1208.11 In previous decades, DCPS consolidated school facilities and eliminated more than three million square feet of space, sometimes releasing the buildings into the private market. Recent modifications to District regulations make it clear that Washington, DC will retain DCPS's surplus buildings to provide opportunities for both DCPS and public charter schools. In addition, if the requirement that charter schools receive the right of first offer is satisfied, and no charter school proposal is selected for adaptive re-use, non-charter school entities may be able to submit proposals for adaptive re-use. The re-use process for non-charter schools is often handled by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). One enduring factor in the disposition of school land is that some of the school grounds were formerly owned and maintained by the federal government. When jurisdiction was transferred from the federal government to the District in 1973, the transfers were typically made for recreational purposes only. Such use constraints should be considered as school properties are repurposed and were considered in the proposed 2018 MFP, which provided additional direction on the use of excess space.
1208.12 Policy EDU-1.6.1: Retention of DCPS Public Schools Facilities
Retain DCPS public school buildings and lands in public ownership to the maximum extent feasible, which includes expiry of leases of former DCPS schools currently leased by public charter schools through the RFO process. This will put the District in a better position to respond to future demographic shifts, address long-term needs for public education, and maintain the need for swing space, which temporarily accommodates students during construction or renovation projects.
1208.12a Schools as Community Anchors
In addition to supporting the academic needs of local students, schools can reflect the social, educational, recreational, and personal needs of the broader community. Historically, the District's schools have been anchors for the community at large, serving as neighborhood gathering places.
1208.13 Policy EDU-1.6.2: Long-Term Leases
Strongly encourage long-term leases instead of sales so that underused school sites and buildings can be retained in public ownership. This approach is necessary due to the limited availability of District-owned land for public facility uses, and the need to retain such land to deliver quality public services and anticipate long-term changes in enrollment.
1208.14 Policy EDU-1.6.3: Preserving Sites Near Transit
Preserve school sites located near Metrorail and other locations well served by transit for educational use.
1208.15 Policy EDU-1.6.4: Public Charter School Reuse of DCPS School Surplus Space
Support public charter schools in gaining access to surplus or underenrolled DCPS school buildings.
1208.16 Policy EDU-1.6.5: Reuse of DCPS School Surplus Space
Continue to apply the following preferences in accordance with the Landrieu Act (118 Stat. 1349, Pub. L. 108-335) to determine the future use of DCPS schools that are deemed surplus:
1208.17 Policy EDU-1.6.6: Adaptive Reuse
When a DCPS facility is no longer viable to house an institution with an educational mission, the District should promote adaptive reuse. The facility can be used to respond to local needs through adaptive reuse and/or dynamic reprogramming. Such new uses can include cultural incubators, job training programs, and affordable housing. A conversion to new non-school uses should be sensitive to neighborhood context and mitigation of impacts on parking, traffic, noise, open space and green space, and other quality of life factors. Provide for public review of potential new uses, and ensure that any issues related to prior jurisdiction over the site by the federal government are addressed. 1208.17
See also the Land Use Element for additional policies on the reuse of public school land.
SOURCE: District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; 31 DCR 1049 (March 9, 1984)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Element Amendment Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-187; 32 DCR 873 (February 15, 1985)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-129; 37 DCR 55 (January 5, 1990)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 NCPC-Recommended Amendments, and Closing of Public Alleys in Square 669, S.O. 88-452, Act of 1990,
effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-132; 37 DCR 2213 (April 6, 1990)); as amended by District Government Land Use Temporary Amendment Act of 1994, effective October 1, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-190; 41 DCR 5360 (August 12, 1994)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1994, effective October 6, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-193; 41 DCR 5536 (August 19, 1994)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Amendment Act of 1994, effective March 21, 1995 (D.C. Law 10-235; 42 DCR 30 (January 6, 1995)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law 11-110; 43 DCR 530 (February 9, 1996)); as amended by Second Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-255; 44 DCR 1271 (March 7, 1997)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 1998, effective April 27, 1999 (D.C. Law 12-275; 46 DCR 1441 (February 19, 1999)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1999, effective April 12, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-91; 47 DCR 520 (January 28, 2000)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-300; 54 DCR 924 (February 2, 2007)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 2008, effective March 25, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-353; 56 DCR 1117 (February 6, 2009)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-361; 58 DCR 908 (February 4, 2011)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2021, effective August 21, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-20; 68 DCR 006918 (July 16, 2021)).