Thanks to the families who packed City Hall yesterday to speak your minds on the Public Schools Transparency Amendment of 2019. As DC pushes for statehood and local rights, schools transparency is another important step toward democracy in the District. Until 1968, Congress controlled everything in DC including our local tax dollars, city government and schools. Among DC’s first locally elected leaders was Marion Barry who was elected to the DC School Board in 1971.
Congress punished DC voters for sticking with Barry over the years. When Barry made a triumphant 1995 return to the Mayor’s Office post-addiction recovery, Congress snatched away local control. Congressman Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) co-sponsored a 1996 law that eventually stripped neighborhood control away from more than half of publicly funded schools in the District.
Yesterday, the DC Public Charter School Board argued that the Freedom of Information Act should not apply to these schools created by this act of Congress. They argued that giving families access to information about taxpayer money and what happens in their kids’ schools would be too much of a “burden.” Anti-transparency forces have been flooding black radio with messages trying to convince DC families they don't need this right.
But why should our questions be muted by a board we did not elect and never has to answer to us? Shouldn’t DC taxpayers and families decide what we need to know about our schools and our money?
Families enrolled in DCPS schools already have a right to this information. DCPS has to disclose all kinds of challenges, from kids skipping school and still graduating to adult abusing kids in schools. Thanks to this law, we know of self-dealing and conflicts of interest and people being funny with the money.
We, don't, however, have the right to know what happens to the other half of DC kids who attend charters. Thanks to DC families raising their voices, it might be possible in the future.
DC Schools First Elected in 1968
1995 New York Times Article on when Congress Snatched Local Control from Barry
A Good History of Congressional Meddling in DC Schools
W. City Paper Expose on the Charter Lobby’s Thuggish Lobbying Tactics
Parents Push Charters for Information about Sexual Misconduct
FULL TEXT OF THE Public Schools Transparency Amendment Act of 2019