Breaking it Down: Our budget asks and early WINS!

IN TODAY'S PAVE POST

#ParentPower at Community Budget Forums
The Specifics: Budget Asks...and Early Wins
Ask and Ye Shall Receive
Get Involved!

#ParentPower at Community Budget Forums

66....that's how many PAVE parent leaders showed up to Mayor Bowser's Annual Budget Engagement Forums and at ward-based sessions hosted by DC Councilmembers Janeese Lewis George (Ward 4), Zachary Parker (Ward 5), Vincent Gray (Ward 7), and Trayon White (Ward 8).

This number not only represents the power of the #PurpleWave, but the commitment parent leaders have to advocating for the budgetary needs of ALL DC kids.

PAVE parent leaders advocating for their #ParentPriorities at Mayor Bowser's 2023 Community Budget Engagement Forums.

Ward 8 PLE Board member Arthemise Cotton advocates for PAVE #ParentPriorities at the Ward 8 Community Budget Forum with Councilmember Trayon White.

The Specifics: Budget Asks and Early WINS!

PAVE's budget asks center around our top two #ParentPriorities: School-based Mental Health (SBMH) and Out-of-School Time (OST) programs, and were developed by parent leaders with DC children and families at the core.

School-based Mental Health

Our Vision: To achieve an education system that prioritizes student mental health and wellness, where all students and their families have readily accessible, high-quality school-based mental health services, supports, and education that is responsive to student needs, we must:

Improve school staff support to respond to the needs of ALL children.

Budget Ask: Increase grants by at least $2 million to expand partnerships with organizations like Turnaround For Children, Restorative DC, and Transcend.
Budget WIN! Last month, Mayor Bowser announced an increase to the UPSFF of 5.05% to keep up with inflation so LEAs can manage expanding supports based on their school community needs.

Build and sustain a pipeline of diverse and competent mental health professionals.

Budget Ask: Increase grants for CBOs to $105,000 per school; $9 million overall to offer competitive salaries and bonuses to CBO clinicians.
Budget WIN!: OSSE received a $9.7 million grant for the next four years to support the recruitment and retention of school-based mental health clinicians.

Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs

Our Vision: For every family to have access to a high-quality OST program for their children that supports their individual needs where they can explore their passions and enrich their learning - regardless of income level or where they live, we must:

Increase access to OST programs by making sure families have access to quality programs in convenient locations that meet their needs.

Ask: Create a lottery sign-up system that provides preference to families with the greatest need (i.e. based on income-level, families with students with disabilities), similar to the My School DC lottery
- WIN!: Last week, DPR announced their official move to a lottery-based sign-up system for their summer programming along with expanded programming options.
  - DPR center hours are also expanding. Centers will now be open from 6am-9pm on weekdays (7 more hours a day) and 9-5pm on Saturday. DPR is also hiring for more than 600 positions!

Add more OST seats by expanding Learn24 grants to OST providers.

Budget Ask: Add $10 million to Learn24 grants to add 5,000 OST seats.
Budget Ask: Add $14 million to cover funding for security costs so OST providers who are located at schools do not have to incur them.
- Budget WIN!: Last month, DCPS announced they will continue to cover security costs for school program providers (SPPs) during the 2023-2024 school year.

Increase funding for schools to support OST programs.

Budget WIN!: Last month, Mayor Bowser announced an increase to the UPSFF of 5.05% to keep up with inflation so that individual LEAs can run and adequately support their own programs.

Increase funding for training to support students with special needs.

Budget Ask: $300,000 to assess the cost of high-quality training for all government-funded OST programs to support students with disabilities to inform funding next year.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

While budget engagement forums serve as a main vessel for community input in the District's budget development process, PAVE parent leaders have gone even further.

Since January, parent leaders have advocated for their #ParentPriorities through their Statements of Beliefs for OST & SBMH, during meetings throughout DC Parent Voice and Choice Week (DCPVCW), in recent testimonies before the DC Council and State Board of Education, and by writing blogs and posting on social media. And DC leaders have taken notes.

As the #PurpleWave has AMPLIFIED their voices, so too have DC Councilmembers. In fact, in the FY24 Budget letters to Mayor Bowser released thus far, 7 advocated for areas aligned with parent leader asks.

Click HERE for more details on Councilmembers' specific asks, and links to their letters!

THANK YOU to our elected officials who prioritize incorporating parent voice into their decision making. We look forward to your continued leadership in making sure these asks become a reality!

Citywide and Ward 5 PLE Board member Yvette Selby advocates for #OST programming at the Ward 5 Budget Forum with Councilmember Zachary Parker.

Get Involved!

Do you want to learn how a DC budget bill becomes law? Are you wondering what the relationship between the federal government and DC is when it comes to our budget? Then this session is for you!

PAVE's Budget Forum will feature local and national experts as they share details on the DC budget process and provide parent leaders the tools to be effective advocates for our children and their schools from every room in the Wilson Building to the US Congress.

Click HERE to RSVP!

Questions? Reach out to the PAVE team at info@dcpave.org and stay up to date on parent leaders’ actions on Twitter & Instagram @dcpave!