D.C. School Takeover Gaining Support

Council Majority Backs Premise of Fenty's Plan

A majority of D.C. Council members said yesterday that they support the general tenets of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's proposal to take direct control of the city's failing school system, although they are waiting to see full details of his plan.

Fenty (D) took office yesterday in a small ceremony and will hold his public inaugural today at the Washington Convention Center. But he is already moving to line up votes for his first major legislative initiative: restructuring the governance of the 58,000-student system so that the superintendent reports directly to the mayor, and the Board of Education's authority is reduced.

"We're not going to ever fulfill our potential if we don't fix our school system," Fenty said this morning in an interview on Washington Post Radio. "We owe it to the kids, we owe it to the families of the District of Columbia. Someone's got to fix the school system. It might as well be the highest elected official in the city."

Fenty declined to provide details of his plan, saying he will wait until a news conference scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow at the John A. Wilson Building. But sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been made public said the elected school board would remain in control of such functions as standardized testing and teacher certification, but would have no say over management, budget or programmatic decisions.

The legislation that will be unveiled by the new mayor also would give the council line-item control of the school system's budget, the sources said.

Fenty said he has built support for the plan among council members by meeting with each of them individually, and by arranging a trip to New York so council members could examine the results of a mayoral school takeover in that city.

"It's kind of a joint effort," Fenty said. "It's the whole city government saying, 'Enough is enough. The residents are fed up. Let's fix the schools.' "

Yesterday, six council members -- David A. Catania (I-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), Harry "Tommy" Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) -- said they support the general framework of Fenty's takeover plan, on which they have been briefed. They represent a majority of the 11 members currently sitting on the council and said they will appear with Fenty at tomorrow's news conference.

Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), a former school board member, said he also supports Fenty's concept, although he has not decided whether to attend the news conference. Vincent C. Gray (D), who was sworn in yesterday as council chairman, said he will appear at the event but will seek public input before taking a position on the takeover proposal.

The early support is encouraging for Fenty, but it does not guarantee legislative success in his restructuring effort. Gray said he will hold several public hearings before scheduling a vote. Several members said that although they support a takeover in theory, they might not endorse all the details of Fenty's proposal. Reducing the authority of the elected board probably will be a contentious issue in the debate.

Cheh said Fenty's legislation needs to be tweaked to get her full endorsement.

"I support the essence of his plan," she said.