Financing issues are also a challenge for the schools. This year's delay in the federal budget for the District of Columbia held up the allocation of funds for charter schools. One principal also noted that her school has had a difficult time obtaining bank financing because the school is newly created and outside the District's conventional public school system. By contrast, many were enthusiastic about seed money from the U.S. Department of Education for launching charter schools. Attracting Quality Teachers Official Washington, i.e., Congress and the White House, have spent a good deal of time debating a proposal to help finance the hiring of 100,000 new teachers across the United States.
Urban centers find it particularly hard to attract teachers.
But at charter schools in the nation's capital, this challenge has been met. The schools have also aimed to keep class size low, a key feature that helps attract students. The Milburn Academy, for example, has classes of 15 students per teacher, while the SEED school has a maximum of 13 students in a class. The schools cited newspaper advertisements, a job fair, word of mouth and networking as important ways in which quality teachers were found and attracted to schools. Many noted that it was important to attract teachers who shared the same philosophy in working with students and parents.