NEPC Review: Resource Realities - A Comparative Analysis of Charter and District School Funding in Washington, D.C. (Bellwether, November 2024)

Oct 15, 2026

NEPC Review evaluates Bellwether’s report on funding disparities between charter schools and district public schools in Washington, D.C. Using tabulations from 2022 to 2025, the review notes that district public schools receive more funding streams, including extra pandemic funding, capital funding, and higher teacher salaries. While the tabulations are judged valid, the review concludes the report does not prove charter schools are underfunded or that parity is warranted, due to missing comparable methods and unaddressed differences in responsibilities and student needs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Summary

I. Introduction

II. Findings and Conclusions of the Report

NEPC Review: Resource Realities: A Comparative Analysis of Charter and District School Funding in Washington, D. C . (Bellwether, November 2024) [Frank Fell Media/](Frank Fell Media/Shutterstock.com)[Shutterstock.com](Frank Fell Media/Shutterstock.com) Reviewed by: Clive Belfield Queens College, City University of New York January 2025 National Education Policy Center School of Education University of Colorado Boulder [nepc.colorado.edu](nepc.colorado.edu) Acknowledgements NEPC Staff Faith Boninger Publications Manager Patricia Hinchey Academic Editor Elaine Duggan Production Design Alex Molnar NEPC Director Kevin Welner NEPC Director Suggested Citation: Belfield, C. (2025) . NEPC Review: Resource realities: A comparative analysis of charter and district school funding in Washington, D.C. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved [date] from [http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/funding-disparities](http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/funding-disparities) Funding: This review was made possible in part by funding from the Great Lakes Center for Educational Research and Practice. GREAT LAKES CENTER For Education Research & Practice This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License. This publication is provided free of cost to NEPC’s readers, who may make non-commercial use of it as long as NEPC and its author(s) are credited as the source. For inquiries about commercial use, please [contact NEPC at](contact NEPC at nepc@colorado.edu)[ nepc@colorado.edu](contact NEPC at nepc@colorado.edu). The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third-party reviews of think tank reports. NEPC publications are written in accessible language and are intended for a broad audience that includes academic experts, policymakers, the media, and the general public. Our mission is to provide high-quality information in support of democratic deliberation about education policy. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence and support a multiracial society that is inclusive, kind, and just. Visit us at: [http://nepc.colorado.edu](http://nepc.colorado.edu) [http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/funding-disparities](http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/funding-disparities) 2 of 11 NEPC Review: Resource Realities: A Comparative Analysis of Charter and District School Funding in Washington, D.C. (Bellwether, November 2024) Reviewed by: Clive Belfield Queens College, City University of New York January 2025 Summary Over the past decade-plus, charter-school advocates have raised concerns about purported funding disparities between charter schools and district public schools. This new report from Bellwether uses tabulations of funding across charter and public schools to describe the size of the funding disparities in the District of Columbia (DC) from 2022 to 2025. Thereport finds that the district’s public schools are more generously funded—that they have access to additional funding streams, receive extra pandemic funding, have more capital funding, and pay teachers much higher salaries. Although the report’s tabulations are valid, it fails to prove that charter schools are underfunded or that they should, in fact, be funded at parity with public schools. Schools in these two sectors are responsible for providing different services and serving different students, and they often receive resources from different sources. The report neither applies a valid method of comparison nor acknowledges these different responsibilities. Indeed, it provides no way to determine if DC charter schools are funded at the “right level” or what that level should be. As a result, it is of limited use to policymakers—exc

FAQs

What question does the Bellwether report address, according to the NEPC review?

It asks whether charter schools in Washington, D.C. are being funded fairly compared with district public schools, using funding data across 2022 to 2025.

What does the review say about the validity of Bellwether’s tabulations?

The review states that the tabulations are valid, but it argues they do not establish underfunding of charter schools or justify funding at parity.

Why does the NEPC review consider Bellwether’s conclusions limited for policymakers?

The review says the report does not use a valid method of comparison, fails to acknowledge differing responsibilities between sectors, and provides no way to determine whether charter funding is at an appropriate level.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Taylor Morgan