Testimony Against Fenty's School Board Takeover
TESTIMONY AGAINST CHANGE IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SCHOOL STRUCTURE
February 21, 2007
My name is Renee Bowser and I am a fifth year ANC Commissioner for SMD 4D02 and ANC 4D Chair. There is one public school in my SMD, Rudolph Elementary School and then there is Truesdell Elementary School in ANC 4D.
I have read the proposed bill titled the "District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007." I am here to testify against enactment of this legislation in its current form for numerous reasons; but I can only summarize a few here.
I am here to speak about the proposed law and the claim that the Mayor's takeover will be the solution for fixing, modernizing, and building new schools. The proposed law is justified based on the alleged failures of the DC School Board of Education. But that is pure scapegoating because the DC Council and the Mayor have held the purse strings except during the Control Board period. We need to ask why the schools have not been fixed. But there is no need to pit democracy against correcting our school facilities. And it is specious to make the argument that if you are against the takeover you're for the status quo.
I believe the Council needs to look at the different proposed acts within the larger bill and explain to citizens what exactly they mean and how they are supposed to work to improve education. For example, the Interagency Collaboration and ombudsman provisions should be explained. To malign those who want to make changes in the Mayor's plan and suggest that you have to accept this plan or else you want the status quo is misleading. The legislative process is about negotiation and change. That's what legislating is about.
Governance
DC Public Schools was governed by an elected School Board from 1969 to 1996. Then from 1996 to 2000, the unelected Financial Control and Management Assistance Authority, known as the Control Board, exercised full governing authority over DCPS. In November, 1996, the Control Board fired the Superintendent and took over full governance of the system. Significantly, at the same time, the District's Chief Financial Officer took control over the School System's fiscal operations, and continues to maintain and exercise that power today.
Following the shutdown of the Control Board, DCPS has been governed by a hybrid Board from 2001 to the present. Fiscal Authority. DC's School Board has never had independent taxing authority. The DC Council and the Mayor are the entities that have determined appropriations for DCPS. And again, since 1996, DCPS fiscal operations have been controlled, not by the Superintendent and the School Board, but rather by the District's Chief Financial Officer who is accountable to the Mayor.
History of Council/Mayor Capital Appropriations to DCPS
During the 1990's, Parents United for the DC Public Schools did an assessment that showed that the DC Council and the Mayor gave the School System an average of only $18 million annually for capital improvements for all 150 school buildings between 1980 and 1996. This appropriation translated into $300 per student for repairs for the school buildings, one of the lowest rates of any school district in the country. "This was not enough money to stem the tide of continued deterioration, let alone address the decay that had already occurred." -- May, 2001 Facility Master Plan Overview at page i-8.
In 1998, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted an assessment of each of the District's operating public school facilities. That assessment found no significant capital improvements since 1980 and no new school built during that period. Not until the FY 1999 budget did the DC government change course and, for the first time in a generation, approve money for capital projects which would fix, modernize, or replace school buildings. In the next 2 years, DCPS developed a Facility Master Plan.
What the Facts and History Show
The facts show that it was the DC Council, the body I sit before today, and the Mayor which have had control for more than a generation to appropriate money to fix, modernize, and replace crumbling school buildings, but did not do it. Since 1996, the CFO has maintained control of the fiscal operations of DCPS. So blaming the School Board and the Superintendent for the decrepit conditions of our schools, whether crummy bathrooms or non-working science labs is misleading, at best, and down right dishonest at worst.
It was the Council and the Mayor who could have appropriated money to fix the leaking roof and missing windows at Rudolph, but chose not to do it. It was the Council and the Mayor who could have appropriated money to fix Coolidge HS's moldy auditorium and dirty bathrooms but chose not to do it. So don't use the School Board as the scape goat when previous Mayors and the Council deserve much of the blame.
When Council and the Mayor decided to build the MCI Arena, the Convention Center, and the Baseball stadium, they could have, instead, appropriated that money to fix, modernize, and build new schools.
What the District Government Can Do Now to Improve the Schools
Now we have the Facility Master Plan and the increased appropriations which FixOurSchools Coalition was instrumental in getting. Why not fix, modernize, and build new schools, as we now have a plan and the money? Why go to a new structure when, under the current structure, every DCPS facility has undergone a detailed on-site survey using specialists in (architecture/civil, mechanical/plumbing, electrical/technology, and roofing/structural) to determine what is needed to fix and upgrade the existing buildings?
As I have made clear, the Chief Financial Officer, who reports to the Mayor, has control of DCPS's fiscal operations. And therefore, right now, without any change in governance, could move forward with fixing, renovating, and building new public schools. So What Does Mayor Fenty's Takeover Plan Add?
Mayor Fenty's proposed plan removes from students, parents, teachers, the School Board, and interested community members any authority or even say in the operations of the DCPS. It would authorize creation of the "Public Education Facilities Management and Construction Authority" with a legal existence separate from that of the District government and power to spend the DCPS capital funds without control of the DC government.
It would give the Management and Construction Authority the power to place charter schools in Rudolph Elementary School but only use the public school money, not the charter school money, to fix up the school for placement of the charter schools.
- It would give the Management and Construction Authority the power to develop "other leveraged uses of facilities space and assets." -- see lines 30 & 31 of the proposed bill.
- It would give the Management and Construction Authority the power to issue long-term land and facility lease agreements outside of the restrictions of current law -- see line 32 of the proposed bill.
- It would authorize the Management and Construction Authority to enter into contracts and leases outside the requirements of the DC Procurement Practices Act of 1985 -- see line 33 of the proposed bill.
- And finally, the proposed law requires the Mayor to consult with the
CEO of the Facilities Management and Construction Authority, the Public
Charter School Board, representatives of public charter schools, and
the Public School Modernization Advisory Committee. By contrast, it
does not require the Mayor to consult with the School Board, public
school teachers, parents, or the community. -- see lines 46-47 of the
proposed bill.
The proposed bill would make the elected Board of Education superfluous and toothless. This law authorizes the Mayor to disregard parents and their students. A parent would be reduced to filing a complaint with the Mayor-appointed Ombudsman for Public Education who will recommend a response, action or no action and report to the Mayor and State Board of Education.
Parents, students, teachers, and the community will have no authority to exact change.
Suggestions
I have a suggestion: let's change the per pupil formula which continues to push the public schools down the drain by requiring cuts in and elimination of vital programs if students leave a school; and such cuts, in turn, will force out more students and most importantly keep the elected school board intact.
Testified: February 21, 2007 (approx.1:00am)
Renee L. Bowser
5322 2nd Street, NW
WDC 20011
202/882-1733
