Compromise Set on DCPS Budget Squabble
Since he moved last month to hold $27 million from the D.C. Public Schools budget over an enrollment dispute, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray has been pleading for an answer to a simple question: Where are the schoolchildren that DCPS is projecting will enroll this fall—more than 3,000 more than if longstanding trends hold—going to come from?
Now Gray's crowing, because he says DCPS Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has admitted he has a point in a letter sent to him yesterday.
In the letter, Rhee cites the work of independent researchers in coming up with the projections, but writes, "I understand your hesitance to accept the projected increase in enrollment....Based upon the assumptions we outlined...we believe we have sound evidence and data to suggest that DCPS's enrollment of October 2009 will increase slightly....However, as I shared with you Friday, I cannot guarantee that this will occur."
Gray sees vindication therein: "Basically, what I think it says is [that] I think we'll be proven right on the number," Gray said this morning at the council breakfast meeting. "It says in a lot of words that they don't know where 3,073 people are coming from."
As for a modus vivendi, a compromise has been fashioned: The council will vote today to restore DCPS funding on the October 2008 enrollment figure—meaning DCPS is free to spend about $24 million of the $27 million that council had threatened to place in escrow. The remaining $3 million will be set aside pending an audit of the fall enrollment.
For next year, however, Rhee and Gray have agreed to work together to "develop a uniform method by which enrollment projections will be completed by both DCPS and the charter schools." That would aim to end the inequity in the mechanics of charter funding versus DCPS funding: Charters have to refund money accepted due to overprojections, but DCPS doesn't.
1:01 pm
Finally a compromise. Rhee still didn't have to be a jerk and send the memo to the principals. The fallout isn't over about that. Note to City Council, DCPS, and Fenty, DC folks don't take kindly to having our "kids" manipulated and used as pawns. Her day of reckoning is coming! So too will it be when school starts this September and the repairs and other things will be behind schedule and not up to par. The Charter School counts will be difficult and the reconciliation of the data may be subpar at best.
1:08 pm
Rhee is the best thing that's happened to DCPS, Q. You're living in the past- a past of utter failure. It's time to move on and realize that the status quo that existed for so many years was a laughing stock and that Rhee's approach (even Obama believes) is the future of education unless we don't care if the kids get a proper education.
Rhee ain't perfect- she's actually kind of a bitch it seems. But who cares, so long as she gets the job done? I care about RESULTS, not who caresses parents', teachers, councilmembers', and students' egos the best. If under her reign performance doesn't improve to reasonable levels, by all means show her the door. Until then, she deserves the opportunity to pull this already-sunken ship out of the bottom of the ocean.
1:15 pm
And Q- I didn't mean to "call you out" as it were. I just get worked up over the education issue because it is such an area of embarrassment for our city. I just want kids to have good teachers in top-notch buildings with a strong administration that won't tolerate failure.
1:34 pm
"Rhee is the best"...not hardly. She's plugged up holes while steering the ship into an iceberg. Rather than call her a name, let's get a few things straight. She doesn't have a vast majority of the teacher or principal's support nor respect! After trying to force salary-incentive teaching down everyone's throat, she's had to back pedal several times dealing with the WTU. Her *new* office can't even get Discipline Guidelines and School Codes out to the schools. Some of the schools didn't even have paper to run off handouts this school year. Yes, no one is perfect, but at least some of her predecessors could get supplies out to the schools.
Yes, DCPS needed change. However, in order to get folks to support the mission, you have to engage them and garner their respect. She hasn't done that. There are parents and citizens who will not tolerate her or her boss' regime when it comes to reform. You can count on that. Paul Vance was 1000 times better, but was hamstrung from the beginning and left frustrated. Yes, Rhee had to deal with some old regime, but she was free to make wholesale changes...and look where it got us. The overarching goal now is to privatize Public Education and some of what is being implemented is leading DCPS on that path. You cannot run DCPS like a corporation, nor can you “contract teachers” and expect things to change for the better in the long run. There is a reason for that!
I'm all for change and I know it won't happen overnight. But it's been two years now! I'm all for results, but if her success is solely based on firing folks at the Central Office, closing schools, and garnering support from out-of-towners (Obama being one of them for now), then she has yet to show progress. Her traveling to speak the propaganda that her mentor from NY gave her is not cutting it either.
Finally, public education needs to evolve or be agile, but not at the expense of the kids and "experts" theorizing what would work in this environment. There were tried and true methods that worked in the past and still can if people take an historic look at DCPS. It isn't as bad as they say it is, but it is a far cry from the success it had say 15-30 years ago! How do I know? I'm a proud DCPS graduate and have defended as such against Ivy Leaguers and others.
2:05 pm
SQ, well I mean to call you out. You say you look for results, then what are they? Tell me how DCPS has improved? It hasn't schools have closed good principles, teachers and athletics directors have been let go is this your progress and results. If Michelle Rhee was not an asian american no one would be talking about her, however because she is and she's running a majority black school system this is news.
I have been a lifelong advocate of Public Education and a longterm financial analyst. These experiences show me that her leadership is doomed to fail. When there is a lack of transparency, communication, and 100% focus (Sacremento or National media cannot be of concern)
3:41 pm
I'm liking what I see in my kid's DCPS school. I'm also liking what I see in the other dozen or so schools I've visited.
I see a huge positive change, and I cannot wait for the test scores to come out.
3:53 pm
The I guess there is a major difference in our definition of success because I to have seen our schools and have worked with hundreds of DCPS student and I see many shortcomings that will not be solved by performance pay.
4:00 pm
Also I guess we are to pretend the violence in our schools is not an issue either, and the detainment of our students to class rooms to eat their lunch is not a simulation of a locked down GenPop. Or that social issues outside of the school walls do affect a childs learning ability, something Ms. Rhee refuses to acknowledge.
4:07 pm
No disrespect Downtown rez, I like some of the results of my kid's school as well. HOWEVER, they in NO MEANS were attributable to Rhee, Fenty, or Reinoso. They were attributable to good teacher, parent, principal, and child cooperation, sans restructuring curriculums and "expert" recommendations. When it comes down to it, if you let the teachers teach and back them up when they need help, along with parental involvement, and show an underlining concern for the children, they are bound to succeed.
Which brings me back to my original point, all that scare tactics stuff regarding the budget paints a false picture of what schools really need. Hence, probably why Gray (who I don't really support all the time) balked at the original figures.
4:12 pm
Tom, you are right about school violence! Add to that the slow return of adult education programs as well.
4:20 pm
The point here is that Rhee lied - there are no "3,073 new students" expected next fall. In fact, enrollment is expected to "increase slightly".
Rhee lied - Gray was right. Gray won; Rhee lost.
5:53 pm
Clarification here: DCPS was anticipating a 373-student rise. The 3,073 figure that Gray mentions is based on the figure that the charter schools are expecting next year (@2,700 more students)---which is in keeping with recent trends (i.e. charter schools up, DCPS down). Gray's question is, if DCPS's new students aren't coming out of the charters, where are they coming from?