Who would I address this petition to?

The Secretary of Education?

Your best bet would be to start locally: with your congress critters.

You send it to whichever congress critter depends on your vote for re-election.

You could also send it to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education

Are you looking for extra funding for one particular school or the entire DC public school system?

DC has Local School Advisory Teams. The LSAT is “a group of elected and appointed members that exists for every DCPS school. The team (formerly the Local School Restructuring Teams) consists of parents, teachers, non-instructional school staff, a community member, and in some cases students, to advise the principal on matters that promote high expectations and high achievement for all students.”

According to the website, “As they have since 1992, Local School Advisory Teams have primary responsibility for the following:
 advising the principal on priorities and goals;
 working with the principal on developing the local Comprehensive School Plan, including the supporting budget;
 reviewing data in order to be informed about school needs and trends;
 monitoring and assessing the implementation of the local Comprehensive School Plan;
 using assessment results to develop specific strategies for research-based school improvement;
 alignment of strategic and specific goals and objectives of DCPS.”

Funding is so complex and based on so many factors, including enrollment, special needs, income levels of families…lots of determining factors. I’d get involved on the most local of all levels first, which would be the LSAT for my child’s school and work from there. There is a list of the LSAT for each school if you are interested.

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/COMMUNITY/DCPS-LSAT-Guidelines-11-10-10.pdf