Critics of Fenty's Takeover Plan Call for Referendum

Although Move Would Be Largely Symbolic, Some Say Residents Have Right to Vote on Proposal

Iris Toyer, a longtime District activist, says she has not made up her mind about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's plan to take over the city's struggling public school system, but she knows one thing: She would like to be able to vote on the matter.

Fenty (D) has decided to bypass a public referendum on his proposal to reduce the authority of the D.C. Board of Education, even though one method of approving an amendment to the city's Home Rule Charter is ratification by voters. Instead, Fenty says that if the D.C. Council approves his legislation, he would seek the charter change by going directly to Congress, which has ultimate authority over the city.

The mayor's decision has brought criticism in a city where the lack of congressional representation continues to anger many. The critics say that Fenty -- who led his inaugural speech with a push for statehood and has scheduled a march to Capitol Hill in April -- is being hypocritical by not allowing residents to vote on a change to their governance.

"What he has suggested is an affirmative step to skip over the people," said Toyer, president of Parents United for D.C. Public Schools. "We are a democracy. That's why you do a referendum."

Legal experts say a referendum would be largely symbolic because Fenty's legislative approach is within the law. For the most part, the complaints are coming from people who have doubts about Fenty's plan, and those who support the school takeover generally accept his decision not to seek a referendum.

As Fenty moves to enact an ambitious agenda, he hopes to avoid a time-consuming and costly referendum campaign. Even so, a debate over his approach could muddy the council's focus on school legislation.

Robert Brannum, an advisory neighborhood commissioner from Ward 5, has filed a petition with the city's Board of Elections and Ethics to put Fenty's legislation on a future ballot. The board will hear Brannum's argument March 7.

On Thursday, at the first of six council hearings on the proposal, Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) demanded to know why Fenty is bypassing the voters. Fenty, who cast himself as a populist to win the mayor's office, responded that council members are elected representatives responsible for vetting his plans for the public.

"We believe the council has the ability and intelligence to make the right decision," Fenty said. He also has said that his two-year, door-to-door campaign amounted to a referendum, adding that fixing schools was his top platform. However, he did not speak publicly about a mayoral takeover of the school system until after he won the primary election in September.

The school board, composed of elected and appointed members, was the first locally elected body established in the District, predating home rule. The board carries significant emotional weight with longtime residents.

Under the proposal, Fenty would be in charge of the school superintendent and give school budget authority to the council. The nine-member school board would be limited to overseeing operations usually reserved for state boards, including setting learning standards and student assessments.

Since the city attained home rule in 1974, there have been 17 initiatives, three referendums and three charter amendments. Initiatives allow voters to propose laws, while referendums give voters the opportunity to review or overturn legislation approved by the council.

In 2000, then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) was preparing to propose a school takeover plan similar to Fenty's when his allies in Congress asked if he wanted them to impose the plan unilaterally, a former top Williams aide said last week.

"We resisted that," said Gregory McCarthy, Williams's legislative chief for seven years. "We thought it really was important to have local buy-in."

Ultimately, the council blocked Williams's plan and worked out a compromise allowing him to appoint four the school board's members. A subsequent referendum in 2000 drew less than 10 percent of registered voters to the polls. Although voters narrowly endorsed the plan, McCarthy said he believes the vote might not have been worth the expense.

Mendelson disagrees.

"People who don't vote make a choice. They are participating by choosing not to go to the ballot box," Mendelson said. He said he sees the 2000 case as a precedent that "the government has already said the preferred route is a referendum."

Activists note that a special election has been scheduled for May 1 to elect council members in wards 4 and 7 and a school board representative for wards 3 and 4 so it would not cost the city more money to add a referendum.

"We should have a vote from the citizens," said Sheila Carson-Carr, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 7 who opposes Fenty's takeover. "People are saying, 'Let us decide.' "

Fenty supporters say voters have already cast their ballots by electing him.

"We voted for change, and we're getting change," said Jack Koczela, who has a son at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Northwest Washington.

Wendy Sefsaf, parent of a third-grader at Benjamin Stoddert Elementary School in Northwest, and Terry Goings, PTA president at Coolidge High School in Northwest, said they support Fenty's approach because they want him to move quickly. "I'm not one to take away the Home Rule Charter," Goings said. "But the Board of Education has been in charge all these years, and look at the school system. . . . I'm one who believes we have to do something different."

But Marc Borbely, an activist who worked with Fenty two years ago to win council approval for a $2.3 billion school modernization package, said: "It's a dangerous precedent. It sends the wrong message that instead of making changes ourselves, we'll go to Congress and ask them to do it for us."

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) said through a spokeswoman that the proposed school restructuring is a local issue. Aides said Norton would help push the bill through Congress if the mayor and council send it to Capitol Hill.