The Jackson-Reed budget is set to increase for the 2026-2027 academic year. However, the expanded funding will not stretch as far as in previous years as a result of increasing teacher salaries.
While a larger budget might appear to allow for more programs, the majority of the increased funding is already accounted for by the rise in salaries, leaving the JR administrators to make decisions about how the remaining funding should be utilized.
Every year, the JR budget is determined by a number of factors including the number of students set to enroll, the number of at-risk students, and the number of special programs the school wishes to include. Additionally, DCPS has outlined certain academic expectations, pushing JR to include specific courses that support students on their post-secondary journey.
For the upcoming academic year, JR is expected to have a total student population of 1,633, the first time it’s been under the building capacity of 1,700 in recent years.
With this information, Principal Sah Brown, along with input from other administrations, parents, and students makes his final decisions.
Brown sends out a survey to all faculty and parents to better understand what they wish to see from the budget for the following year; with those results he has “a pulse on how everybody’s thinking about the budget,” though it sometimes leads to “very hard decisions to make.”
In addition to not only having to work with faculty and parental wishes, JR must also balance with educational expectations DCPS wants to see. DCPS, in recent years, has begun prioritizing post-secondary preparations to allow for more students to have a more concrete plan as they exit high school.
JR offers 11 different National Academy Foundation (NAF ) academies that are regulated nationwide, but heavily emphasized by DCPS. When asked about the consideration of NAF Academies in the planning of the budget, Brown commented that “it[‘s] prioritized [at DCPS central office], and we prioritize here with our budget as well.”
According to the DCPS Office of the Secondary Schools, the Career and Technical Education Office aims “to ensure that DCPS schools are offering high-quality CTE programs of study and Career Academies that align with the District’s high-wage, high-demand careers.” With the expansion of the Academy of Global Studies, the Academy of Finance, and the addition of courses to pre-existing academies, this can limit funding available to other classes.
With a strong push on NAF courses, other departments may be facing potential losses and cuts. Next year, JR will lose all of its area study classes; with the Social Studies department taking a bigger hit than other departments like English and Math.
Though there are some staff cuts that are occurring for the following year, Brown remains steadfast “to prioritize classroom teachers,” particularly in response to concerns about the large class sizes and the burden placed on teachers managing multiple courses.
In addition, a crucial concern to the school and its administrators is the availability of student support services present. According to DCPS Budget Staffing Ration Allocation, there is supposed to be one school counselor for every 250 high school students. JR currently has seven school counselors, which excludes the two psychologists and six additional social workers, meaning the school meets, and slightly exceeds, the recommended ratio. Brown further emphasized that mental health remains a key concern voiced by both students and parents, and that “school counseling is a priority.”
Although JR’s student population will officially be under the maximum capacity of the school building, the portables will be remaining for another year.
JR has no formal control over the addition and removal of the portables from property grounds. Brown described it as “a unique structure in that the addition and removal comes from the Small Capital Projects [funds].” While there is some indication that the portables could be removed during the academic year of 2027-2028, this timeline remains uncertain and dependent on further updates and approval for the Small Capital Projects.
Even though DCPS has allocated funds for JR based on an algorithm, school principals do have the ability to appeal the amount given if they believe there isn’t sufficient funding to meet the school’s needs. However, this is a very rare occurrence, meaning most of the time the money given during the initial allocation is most likely the final amount.
The final budget allocation to JR will be published at the start of the next academic year. •
