In a 2003 interview, novelist Kurt Vonnegut was quoted saying the following: “It’s perfectly ordinary to be a socialist. It’s perfectly normal to be in favor of fire departments.” I was forcibly reminded of that statement during meetings in the last few weeks to get public feedback for cross sector task force recommendations; the master … Continue reading It’s Perfectly Normal To Be In Favor Of By Right Schools

The following is a transcript (starting at 2:28:45 in the video available here) from the budget oversight hearing of the public charter school board on April 11, before the education committee of the city council. In it, committee chair David Grosso asks charter board executive director Scott Pearson about illegal out of school suspensions. Besides … Continue reading “This Is Not A Law That We Are Enforcing”

Our office of the state superintendent of education (OSSE) is developing school report cards, per our city's adoption of the Every Student Succeeds act (ESSA) . (See here for background information (and see OSSE's official outline here). Our city's adoption of a plan for ESSA was to replace the prior rules of the No Child Left Behind … Continue reading School Report Cards: What’s Your Grade?

Ed. Note: Below are graphs created by two DCPS parents, Betsy Wolf and Amber Gove, that tell a story of inequitable funding of DCPS schools along socioeconomic lines. This is in line with what many public witnesses testified about during the recent DCPS budget hearing on March 28, citing concerns with inadequate staffing and cutbacks … Continue reading Inequitable Funding In DCPS (Yes, It Is As Bad As You Feared)

The deputy mayor for education's office has been busy, setting upcoming meetings for the master facilities plan (MFP) as well as cross sector task force recommendations. More information on the MFP is here. The master facilities plan is late in coming, but is the basis for future building needs for DC's public school students. (For … Continue reading Facilities & Cross Sector Task Force Meetings

[The following is a guest editorial by public school advocate Peter MacPherson] During much of human history, state power has resided with just a few people. Sometimes that power was applied fairly, for the common good--though many self-appointed leaders, or those receiving their command as a birthright, have applied power capriciously, to the benefit of … Continue reading Editorial: Mayoral Control Has Failed DCPS

Back in January, when we were young and easy and ran in our heedless ways believing that neither chancellor nor deputy mayor for education would ever deceive us, school advocates petitioned council education committee chair David Grosso to change the budget hearing dates for DCPS and the charter board so that they would not occur … Continue reading Update: Budget & Other Ed. Hearings