July 12, 2005
City Council Debates School Repair Legislation
The students may not be in the classroom, but District officials and activists are still working to find ways to address the problem of the city's crumbling schools.
Legislation currently working its way through the City Council's Finance and Education Committee's would allow the city to borrow up to $1 billion for much-needed school repairs, an issue that has repeatedly dogged D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and D.C. Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey and may well become an important issue in the 2006 mayoral race. The legislation, known as the "School Modernization Financing Act of 2005," has been endorsed by 10 of the Council's 13 members, though Finance Committee Chairman Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) has noted he will abstain and Council Chair Linda Cropp and Council-member Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) have not yet expressed opposition or support.
The legislation would allow the city to sell $1 billion worth of bonds for school renovations and maintenance, and would earmark the proceeds from the D.C. Lottery, roughly $60 million a year, to cover the interest payments on the debt. While the money would fall short of the estimated $2.5 billion total needed for repairs and maintenance, education activists have applauded the initiative and worked furiously to ensure Council support.
Both the Examiner and the Common Denominator have expressed support for the legislation, while the Washington Times has instead advocated selling and consolidating underused or closed schools for the sake of protecting the city's credit worthiness and has promoted extending a pilot charter school program funded by Congress.
The Council is slated to vote on the legislation on Thursday.
The picture above is from Payne Elementary School in Southeast, and was taken from the website of Fix Our Schools, a group advocating for school repairs and renovations.
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I don't know the figures, but doesn't DC already spend way more than other municipalities on schools (on average). Maybe its time to stop throwing money at the symtomatic problems we see on the surface, and try to determine the root cause. If private and charter school educations are being distributed fairly, I think its time to give them more room to grow.
Please see D.C. Public School Funding: Myth & Reality, a 2003 report by Parents United.
From the report:
Common belief: DCPS has the highest per pupil spending in the nation.
Finding: Myth. Although it is higher than national and most state averages, per pupil spending in D.C. is similar to or lower than spending in its more affluent neighbors and in several other large cities.
Even with federal funding included, DCPS spends less per pupil than neighboring districts Arlington County and Alexandria City. Without the federal funding that supports some of its many low-income pupils, DCPS spends less per pupil than any of its four high-performing neighbors districts -- Fairfax County, Montgomery County, Arlington and Alexandria. (Spending per pupil is a function, in part, of the cost of living in any given area. Because the D.C. metropolitan area is substantially higher than the national average, salaries of teachers and other staff, as well as the cost of most goods and services, are higher than average figures for most other areas of the country).
- Marc Borbely
FixOurSchools.net