Tomorrow, Tuesday May 30, from 9 am to 11 am, in Room 500 of the Wilson Building (1350 PA Ave. NW), join fellow DC education advocates and budget gurus from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) to tell council members to make a budget that meets our education needs. Starting at 11 am tomorrow, the … Continue reading Hey Hey, Ho Ho: Let’s Save Our Schools Tomorrow (May 30)

So, let me get this straight: Our mayor and nine of our thirteen councilmembers recently traveled to Las Vegas, to attend a glitzy convention to woo developers to our city. Given that we have charter operators tossing around the better part of $10 million on speculative real estate in the last year alone, and an … Continue reading Our Education Budget: Walking AND Chewing Gum Edition!

Just before you head out in traffic, the cross sector task force meeting that was slated for tonight has been rescheduled for Tuesday May 30, 6 pm, at 2235 Shannon Place SE, Dept. of For Hire Vehicles. See here for more information.

[Below is a letter sent to Mayor Bowser, and copied to DCPS Chancellor Wilson, the deputy mayor for education, and council members on the education committee, from public education advocate Peter MacPherson, May 21, 2017] Dear Mayor Bowser: This weekend I took one of my bi-weekly sojourns to Georgetown so I could view the pace of … Continue reading No Comment

That title above was what I endeavored to find out at the beginning of March, through this FOIA request: "Pursuant to the provisions of the District of Columbia's Freedom of Information law, I request documentation of feedback (by date, organization, and meeting) garnered from organizations and groups that OSSE [the office of the state superintendent … Continue reading So What Was OSSE Told About ESSA?

Testifying the other week during the council’s budget oversight hearing for the DC public charter school board, education advocate and DCPS parent Suzanne Wells called for a study by the DC auditor to compare the costs to run DCPS schools versus charter schools. Wells asked that the study look at administrative in addition to facilities … Continue reading The DC Education Costs That Shall Not Be Named

Circulating now: a petition to the city council to reject the 1.5% increase in the per pupil funding for public schools that the mayor has proposed for FY18 and increase it to at least 3.5%--with additional demands of DCPS for transparency in the use of those additional funds; for starting the budget process in October … Continue reading Petition: Fix The Schools Budget

[UPDATE May 11, 9:40 am: Just got the materials for the at risk phone call here and the facilities phone call here. Happy cramming.] Apologies for the late notice, but I was waiting (fruitlessly, it turned out) for accompanying materials for the two phone calls that the working groups of the cross sector task force will … Continue reading Calls Tomorrow & Friday: Cross Sector Task Force, At Risk & Facilities Groups

“When we have principals who are not letting kids back into school, what are we doing with those principals? It’s not my place to try to get someone fired, but someone has to hold our school staff accountable whenever children are kept from learning.” --Ombudsman for Public Education Joyanna Smith, about minute 54 of the … Continue reading No Comment

The title above is only one question in a litany that I (and probably loads of other people) have in the wake of a recently reported letter (see below) from the DC inspector general (IG) to the council, saying that the IG determined that former DCPS chancellor Kaya Henderson had given “preferential treatment” to DC … Continue reading So, Can We Have An Audit of the Lottery Now?