FOCUS D.C. Public Charter School Bulletin
January 4, 2007
Mayor Announces Education Plan: He’ll Take Over School System if Council and Congress Approve.
Omnibus Bill Also Shifts Board of Education Charter Schools to the D.C. Public Charter School Board; Strips School System of Federal Funds Administration and Control of Facilities; Greatly Increases Powers of State Education Office; Replaces Board of Education With State Policy Board
Just two days into his first term, Mayor Adrian Fenty this morning held a press conference to announce the introduction of sweeping legislation that would give him direct authority over the school system and create a State Department of Education in which would be consolidated most state-level functions, many of which are now housed in DCPS. The proposed legislation incorporates some longtime charter advocacy goals, but also contains provisions that are likely to be opposed by the charter school community.
Overall, the bill, called the “District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007,” represents the first comprehensive effort since the advent of charter schools 10 years ago to conform D.C.’s education structure to post-charter reality, which features not just one but 56 Local Education Agencies competing for students, funding, and real estate.
Specifically, the bill makes a number of radical changes in the way the government would be organized to carry out its education responsibilities. Among the major changes:
Mayoral Takeover of DCPS
--DCPS would become a subordinate agency under the mayor.
--DCPS would be run by a chancellor (with the same duties as a superintendent) appointed by the mayor with Council confirmation.
--The Council would have line item authority over the DCPS budget.
Establishment of State Department of Education
--A State Department of Education would be established, to be headed by the deputy mayor for education. The chief state school officer (the head of the State Education Office) would report to the deputy mayor, as would the CEO of a new school facilities agency (see below).
Transfer of State Functions to SEO; Chief State School Officer
--The State Education Office, currently part of the mayor’s office, would take on all state-level education functions beginning October 1, 2007, including federal grants, standards-setting, federal accountability requirements (NCLB), early childhood education, and adult education. The head of the SEO would be the chief state school officer and would report to the deputy mayor for education. Currently, the chief state school officer is the superintendent of DCPS.
Elimination of Board of Education; Creation of State Board of Education
--The Board of Education, which now operates as the DCPS school board and the State Education Agency, would become the State Board of Education, with no authority over DCPS and no SEA responsibilities. The State Board’s functions would be limited to (1) advising the Chief State School Officer on state education policy; and (2) “policy-approval authority” over state standards and the NCLB state accountability plan, including cut scores. The current BOE members would become the members of the State Board, with the same terms of office. The State Board would become an all-elected body in 2009 (the current Board of Education is a hybrid of elected and appointed members).
Establishment of School Facilities Agency
--There would be established an independent authority for school facilities management and construction, whose CEO would be appointed by the mayor with Council confirmation. The Agency’s mandate would be to ensure that D.C. children (presumably, though not explicitly, including charter school children) have “safe, modern, secure educational environments in which to learn”; to implement the public schools master facilities plan; to expedite school modernization; and to direct the maintenance, inspection, construction, renovation, and repair of school buildings.
Charter School Provisions
Part of the omnibus legislation deals explicitly with charter schools, offering a variety of amendments to the School Reform Act (D.C.’s charter school law) that would have to be enacted by Congress, which passed the Act in 1996:
Board of Education Charter Schools
The legislation would shift the 18 Board of Education charter schools to the D.C. Public Charter School Board (the BOE has asked Congress and the Council to permit it to relinquish its chartering authority, see Bulletin 11/14/06, at www.focusdc.org). Although the legislation does not create a new chartering authority to replace the BOE, FOCUS has learned that the Fenty administration likely is not set against creation of a new authority by the Council or the Congress. Rather, as made clear by Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso at today’s press conference, the shift of the BOE schools to the DCPCSB was done to “address the Board charter schools’ immediate need” for oversight and support, while creation of another chartering authority, if it occurs, is a longer-term proposition. The Board of Education charters, however, have made clear that they are opposed to being taken over by the DCPCSB and are expected to fight the transfer.
Charter School Accountability
Equally controversial are the provisions of the legislation that seek to increase charter school accountability. The most objectionable of these provisions would permit the State Education Office, not just the chartering authority, to revoke the charters of underperforming schools. Another likely-to-be controversial provision would require a “high stakes review” of charter school performance after three years of operation, instead of after five years as under current law.
Two other accountability provisions are more likely to find favor with the charter schools: these would provide an appeal to the State Education Office of charter application denials and charter revocations. Under current law the only appeal of negative chartering board decisions is to the courts.
Nine of the eleven members of the Council (two seats will be vacant until a special election in May) were present and spoke at today’s press conference. Of these, seven offered fervent or qualified support for the legislation; two, including Council Chair Vincent Gray, did not take a position. Council members Mendelson and Schwartz, not present at the conference, are on record as opposing a mayoral takeover of the school system. Gray promised speedy action on the legislation, which under new Council rules will be considered by the Committee of the Whole, which will henceforward operate as the Education Committee. Public hearings on the bill will be held later this month.
FOCUS will monitor the progress of the legislation and provide updates in future editions of the Bulletin.
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools
1530 16th Street, NW #104
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 387-0405 phone
(202) 667-3798 fax
www.focusdc.org