You may have heard the rumor that there’s one or two problems with the D.C. public school system. Tonight, School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey plans to explain why and how he’s proposing to fix them. In a rare State of the Schools address, Janey is expected to reassure residents that administrative overhauls are under way and that his ideas to close failing schools and modernizing others is still the right thing to do.

The speech could be a way for Janey, who will soon be reporting to a new deputy mayor for education, to re-assert himself as a leader and remain relevant to the new administration.

But Janey may not want to cozy up with his record on school reform. It’s hard even to write about District schools without using the word “crumbling,” and both parents and independent observers tend to agree. When Janey took office, he hoped to close or consolidate dozens of schools and reconstruct an ambitious 121 others. As D.C. education watch-dogs point out, this pillar of his reform plan has been rejected by parents and delayed by bureaucracy.

Budget woes also shadow Janey. This January the school system got $200 million to modernize city schools. Now, it looks like administrative negligence is responsible for misuse of those funds and may cost the city $120 million more in federal grants.

So how should Janey address his critics and what’s his game plan if Mayor-elect Fenty decides to take direct control of D.C. schools? Find out at 6:30 p.m., McKinley High School in Northeast. In the meantime, tell us how you see the state of our schools and whether you think Janey can live up to promises of school reform.