DC Literacy Is at Risk- Here’s How You Can Help Today & Tomorrow
Dear Neighbors,
Congress recently enacted a Continuing Resolution that slashes $1.1 billion from D.C.’s FY2025 local budget- including $190 million from DC Public Schools and $166 million from public charter schools These drastic midyear cuts threaten essential services in our schools, including programs supporting evidence-based literacy instruction.
The Senate has unanimously passed the D.C. Local Funds Continuation Act but the bill is still awaiting action in the House.
📣 How You Can Help Right Now
📞 Ask Friends & Family Nationwide to Contact Their House Reps
As D.C. residents, we don’t have a voting member in the House. But your friends and family in other states do! Urge them to contact their representatives and ask for a YES vote on the D.C. Local Funds Continuation Act.
👉 Find their representative
📢 Spread the Word
Share this message widely. The louder our collective voice, the closer we get to restoring what our students deserve.
We know that literacy is the foundation for lifelong learning—and for D.C.’s future. These cuts risk undoing years of investment in science-of-reading reforms that are beginning to move the needle for our students.
📖 Shaping the Future: Literacy in the DC 2050 Plan
While we fight to protect our schools today, we must also plan boldly for tomorrow. As D.C. updates its long-term Comprehensive Plan — DC 2050 — we have the chance to embed literacy into how our city grows.
Here are two priorities I’m championing to help strengthen literacy for D.C. students. I invite you to share them too through the DC 2050 Vision Survey:
🏙️Expand Literacy-Rich Public Spaces
Let’s integrate free book exchanges, reading corners, and child-friendly signage into parks, transit hubs, and other public spaces so that every corner of the city becomes a place for reading.
📚 Evidence that it works:
Philadelphia's Literacy-Rich Environments Initiative demonstrates how informal spaces can powerfully support reading development
Research by Dr. Susan Neuman highlights the power of print-rich settings for children in underserved communities
🏠Provide Affordable Housing for Educators
Teachers, librarians, and reading specialists should be able to live in the neighborhoods they serve. Let's make that a reality.
📎 Evidence:
Edutopia highlights how housing incentives could help bring teachers back to classrooms
📬 Join Me in Shaping the Future:
Take the DC 2050 Vision Survey at https://www.dc2050.com
Let’s help write the next chapter for D.C., a city where literacy is accessible, valued, and embedded in every neighborhood.
In service and solidarity,
Allister Chang
Ward 2 Representative, DC State Board of Education