Some good news for public schools in the District: Thousands of new supplies have been delivered in the past couple of months, purchased with unspent funds from last year’s fiscal budget.
According to a release, more than 85,000 new books, 2,000 computers and 4,000 musical instruments were delivered to different schools in October and November as part of DCPS’s Capital Commitment initiative, which promises to improve all public schools by 2017. Other supplies included in this recent investment include more teacher supply cards, Metro cards for teachers, and cafeteria tables.
But where did all this money for new supplies and equipment come from? Well, DCPS says the money from “unspent funds” in the previous fiscal year were available because of unfilled personnel vacancies and various reduced benefit costs. “Our money belongs in our schools and our students and educators deserve the best,” DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson said in a release. “When we realized these funds would be available, we came up with a thoughtful and strategic plan to make purchases that would both help our students learn and achieve, and support our teachers with new, modern equipment and supplies. The action at DCPS is in the classroom and that’s where we’re putting our resources.”
Recently, D.C.’s fourth and eighth graders outpaced nearly every state in the 2013 Nation’s Report Card, showing that significant improvements have been made to D.C.’s public schools. Still, the report also highlighted the ongoing concern of the achievement gap between D.C.’s white students and black and Hispanic students. (While the gap narrowed in some subjects and grade levels in the last Report Card, it nonetheless remains one of the largest in the nation).
New library collections were added at Anacostia High School, Kramer Middle School, and McKinley and Cardozo Education Campuses, according to the release. Additionally, every DCPS school received new books, eBooks and periodicals. Also, 40 teachers at DCPS elementary schools recieved 825 Nook e-readers, which were pre-loaded with “award-winning novels” related to DCPS’s fourth-grade Advanced Readers Extensions curriculum. Five Disklavier pianos were delivered to Ballou, Duke Ellington, McKinley, Wilson and Woodson high schools, and 3,200 other instruments were delivered to elementary, middle, and high schools across the city.
Finally, supplies to launch four new digital art labs at School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens, School Without Walls, Truesdell Education Campus and Ballou High School were delivered. These schools, as well as Wilson and Coolidge High Schools and Takoma Education Campus, are getting supplies to launch digital photography departments.
