- Gray to Push $80m Plan to Skeptical D.C. Council
- Mayor, Council Called Out at D.C. School Budget Protest
The Washington Examiner
By Alan Blinder
April 9, 2012
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray will brief District legislators about his plans to spend a nearly $80 million windfall, but he'll encounter a resistant council that previously balked at approving the mayor's proposals.
In two requests issued since January, Gray pushed to spend millions on programs and agencies including public and charter schools, unemployment insurance and back pay for District employees who were furloughed in 2011.
"It is increasingly urgent [the council] take action to avoid ... putting certain vital government services at risk," said Pedro Ribeiro, a mayoral spokesman.
Tuesday's briefing will be the latest chapter in the saga that has pitted Gray against council members, most of whom publicly rebuked the mayor in January for his first proposal to spend nearly $45 million. In turn, Council Chairman Kwame Brown refused to schedule a vote on Gray's budget package.
By March, legislators were bickering with Gray's office about funding for the Ward 5 special election in May, which Gray included as a part of his first proposal. The mayor's office tried to use funding for that election as leverage to win approval for the entire package, internal emails obtained by The Washington Examiner showed, but Gray ultimately made other arrangements to pay for the election. That same month, he also sought an extra $35 million in spending.
In recent weeks, Brown agreed to schedule a vote on Gray's proposals, and Tuesday's briefing is part of an effort to soothe legislators' worries.
Gray "is confident that once council members understand the critical nature of these unexpected pressures, they will act quickly to address them," Ribeiro said.
For Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, chairman of the council's finance and revenue committee, little has changed. He said he's reluctant to spend the millions now while not knowing what the future will bring.
"I would like to hold that -- all of it -- further into the year because we don't know what the rest of the year is going to produce," Evans said.SClBOther council members, including Brown, still have questions they want answered before approving Gray's proposals.
In a three-page letter to Gray obtained by The Examiner,
Brown, on behalf of council members, asked more than two-dozen questions, many of which focused on what agencies would do with extra cash.
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
April 9, 2012
On a windy Monday outside city hall, the Washington Teachers' Union made it clear who their friends were.
"When the firefighters need teachers, where are we?" led the chant by Nathan Saunders, the union's president.
"With them!" cried back the crowd of about 50 teachers, school psychologists, firefighters and activists.
And later: "When the police officers need us, where are we?"
"With them!"
But when it came to the inhabitants of 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Mayor Vincent Gray and the D.C. Council, who are tasked with authorizing a schools budget that would increase class size, reduce the number of school librarians, and eliminate special-education coordinators and give their duties to psychologists — the crowd sang a different tune.
"Shame on you, Vincent Gray!" they chanted at the prompting of Jos Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington Council. And, "Shame on you, Kwame Brown!"
Both graduates of D.C. Public Schools, "if there [are] any two individuals who should be advocates for the public school system, it should be our mayor and the chairman of the City Council," Williams argued.
Gray pledged a 2-percent increase in per-pupil spending for the upcoming school year, which amounted to more than $80 million in extra funds for the schools. But the bump, it seems, was outweighed by increasing costs of about 5 percent.
In previous years, private donors shouldered the cost of bonuses from Impact, the teacher evaluation tool introduced by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee. But in its fourth year next year, the foundation funds have run dry, as was expected. Many did not expect, however, for DCPS to put the burden of funding those bonuses on the individual schools.
Now, DCPS is eliminating more than 200 special-education coordinator positions and transferring their responsibilities to school psychologists. The decision has alarmed many teachers and activists, as DCPS makes efforts to get its chronically troubled special-education program out from under federal court supervision.
DCPS says psychologists are better equipped to handle the needs of special-education students. But psychologists who went to the rally told a different story.
"It's two full-time jobs. Our current job is more than we can handle in 40 hours," Tonja Dupree told The Washington Examiner. "I don't think they truly understand all we do. It's ignorance."
Harriet Kuhn, a psychologist who has been with DCPS for 21 years, and who services Hearst, Mann and Oyster-Adams, said the school system "thought we would be really happy about it."
School librarians, a position expected to be cut by a third if the budget goes through, were also vocal at the rally, and Saunders insinuated that the mayor is a hypocrite for refurbishing libraries throughout the city.
The teachers' union and the Council of School Officers, which represents principals and other school-based administrators, were joined by the local police and firefighter unions. They pledged to have each others' backs in fighting legislation that would slash their pensions, and accused D.C. lawmakers of being "part-time workers."
"Long after they’re done, long after they’ve taken another job, we’re going to be here, protecting the citizens and educating the citizens and taking care of the city," said Kris Baumann, head of the police union. "It’s our city, not theirs."
At-large Councilman Phil Mendelson was leaving the Wilson Building when the crowd called him over to speak, and Baumann taunted him for recently accepting a raise.
"I have not looked specifically at the budget, I do not know about these specific cuts," Mendelson said, but he added that "we should not be cutting librarians, we ought to be bringing special education back into our schools. ..."
At-large Councilman Vincent Orange, twice-endorsed by the teachers' union, also pledged his support.
Other councilmembers were approached to speak at the rally, but none confirmed they would, teachers' union spokeswoman Andrea James said.
On Monday, The Examiner reported that the relationship between the union and DCPS was not going well after recent efforts toward greater collaboration.
The teachers' union named a trash can after DCPS and, wielding a giant, novelty pair of scissors, James cut in half a photo of a young girl holding an "I Can" sign. Cut in half again, the photo was to represent children's educational opportunities under the budget.
"We are going to let the mayor see what cutting the education budget does," Saunders shouted over the wind. "It takes this young lady and it cuts up opportunities and it puts them right in the trash."
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