Mayor Gray, Invoked by Parents, Will Keep Funding for Payne Elementary in Place

photo courtesy of USGBC-NCR.org

Parents of children enrolled at Payne Elementary, located at C and 14th Street Southeast, urged Capitol Hill residents, those with or without kids, to call Mayor Gray’s office to plead for funding for the school’s renovations, previously scheduled to begin next year, with total funding of $12.5 million, to be restored — and at a meeting this morning, it was. DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced that the Mayor found funding to get Payne’s renovation back on schedule, According to meeting attendees, Henderson said the Mayor will be reviewing his shift in funds broadly, but refunding Payne and Garrison Elementary School in Northwest are the biggest shifts at this point.

Payne parents took to neighborhood list-serves and Facebook yesterday after The Washington Post reported that this project, as well as other modernization projects at other schools, would be delayed until 2018 or later in order to increase funding for projects at other schools. Mayor Gray and other city officials had their email boxes and phones flooded by concerned residents.

According to parents, Payne has not had significant improvements since it was built in 1970s, and has insufficient equipment, furnace issue and lacks an elevator for students with special needs.