(WASHINGTON, DC) – On Wednesday, August 23, at 11:30  am, Mayor Muriel Bowser will highlight her investments in charter schools across the District at Kipp DC Promise Academy: Benning Campus in Ward 7. As one of her top priorities to expand quality education opportunities for DC families, Mayor Bowser has awarded public facilities for public charter school use, created the Cross-Sector Collaboration Task Force to address key issues, and increased the public charter school facility allotment by 2.2 percent for the next four years.

As part of the Every Day Counts! Tour, Mayor Bowser will continue to talk about the importance of attending school every day. School attendance is a key predictor of student achievement, and in DC, approximately one out of every four students is chronically absent (missing 10 percent or more of the school year). 

KIPP DC Promise Academy educates over 500 kindergarten to fourth grade students. In the 2016-17 school year, KIPP DC’s Benning Campus – including LEAP Academy, Promise Academy, and KEY Academy – boasted a 94 percent daily attendance rate. On the recently released 2016-17 PARCC Assessment, announced by Mayor Bowser last week, Promise Academy were the highest achieving charter elementary school in the District.

Since 2015, the Bowser Administration continues to accelerate education reform in the District. In her Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Budget, Mayor Bowser invested $1.74 billion in public education, an increase of $121 million over last year’s budget and the largest investment ever in Washington, DC. Mayor Bowser’s proposed contract agreement with the Washington Teachers Union will increase the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula by 5.9 percent, and add $92.6 million to public charter schools FY2017 to FY2021.

WHEN:
Wednesday, August 23, at 11:30 am

WHO:
Mayor Muriel Bowser                                                                                                                
Jennifer Niles, Deputy Mayor, Education
Scott Pearson, Executive Director, DC Public Charter School Board 
Erin Huseby, Principal,  KIPP DC Promise Academy

WHERE:
Kipp DC Promise Academy: Benning Campus
4801 Benning Road, SE
*Bus Lines: E32, U8, W4*

Press interested in attending the event are asked to RSVP to [email protected]. To view the event online, visit mayor.dc.gov/live or tune in on Channel 16 (DCN).