- School issues less divisive in 2014 race
School issues less divisive in 2014 race
The Northwest Current, pg 1
By Graham Vyse
March 26, 2014
When Mayor Adrian Fenty was seeking re-election in 2010, his education policies accentuated by the fiery approach of his schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee proved a divisive issue that swayed many voters to Vincent Gray.
But as Gray faces his own tough re-election bid on Tuesday, few are painting his schools record as a major liability. His chancellor, Kaya Henderson, has mostly earned high marks from the current crop of mayoral challengers, and the incumbent never seems more confident than when he talks about rising test scores and nationally acclaimed early learning initiatives.
But there wouldn't be a campaign without contrast, and the various mayoral candidates have outlined some competing education priorities.
Though Gray appointed a less polarizing schools chancellor, the mayor has continued the substance of the school reform agenda he inherited. He has done nothing to alter D.C.'s fundamental approach to teacher evaluations nor has he tried to change the city's commitment to school choice policies. In addition, Gray routinely touts the District as having “the most robust early-childhood education program in America,” an effort he championed as chairman of the D.C. Council.
“If you look at the extent to which we serve children ages 3 and 4, the numbers speak for themselves, he said in an interview earlier in the campaign. Seventy percent of our 3-year-olds are in school 92 percent of our 4-year-olds.”
A 2012 study by the National Institute for Early Education Research placed these numbers in a national context: D.C. had “a higher percentage of children enrolled at ages 3 and 4 and a higher expenditure per child than any of the states.”
Reflecting on the incumbent mayor's overall record on school reform, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Mayor Gray and D.C. hit the ball out of the park did much better than anyone else in terms of improvement.”
Challenger Muriel Bowser doesn't quibble with the notion that the District has made progress. "I think confidence and quality in our lower grades has improved dramatically," Bowser said in an interview.
But the Ward 4 D.C. Council member who has pulled even with Gray in the most recent polls has said she wants to focus more on improving middle schools, using Ward 3's high-achieving Alice Deal as a model. Bowser also touts the Kids Ride Free law she passed, which waived public bus fees for school-aged children in hopes of removing an impediment to regular attendance for some families.
For his part, Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells said in an interview that his first education priority is that every family will have a quality elementary school within walking distance of their home, which they can attend as a matter of right.” Wells said he is inclined to retain Henderson as chancellor, if only for the sake of continuity, and he has pitched putting workforce development offices inside middle and high schools, among other initiatives.
Two priorities Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans voiced during the campaign are boosting access to elective courses and increasing partnerships between D.C.'s private universities and the public school system. Specifically, he would seek to mandate that every school hire teachers for art, music and physical education, as well as a librarian.
Meanwhile, the partnerships he envisions with higher education institutions would allow college students to receive academic credit for tutoring grade school students.
“I would have to work out the details of how it would be financed or implemented,” he said in an interview. "Maybe universities would do it for free."
Of the remaining candidates, each of whom has routinely polled in the single digits in citywide surveys, Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal has had the most to say on education. Shallal is notable for his fierce criticism of the District's post-2007 school reforms, including their focus on school choice.
"The truth is parents don't so much want choice as they want good neighborhood schools within easy walking or biking distance of where they live," he said in campaign literature. The restaurateur also would seek to limit the reliance of teacher evaluations on standardized test scores and implement a moratorium on school closings.