Longtime D.C. School Woes Eclipsed Board's Triumphs

If Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's takeover plan is approved by Congress, the Board of Education's mission of setting academic standards and approving the school system's budget would end. (By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)

In a city still fighting for voting rights in Congress, the D.C. Board of Education is a potent symbol of democracy as the District's first elected government body.

But Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's schools takeover plan, approved by the D.C. Council, will dramatically reduce the board's authority. Even its name will change.

Over the past four decades, the board failed to transform its schools into the models of achievement sought by parents and city officials. Despite a succession of superintendents and numerous changes, test scores and graduation rates have remained low, buildings have crumbled and parental confidence has fallen.

If Congress approves the mayoral takeover, as expected, the school board will no longer approve the schools budget and no longer be responsible for hiring and firing the superintendent for the 55,000-student system. That person will be called chancellor and report to the mayor.

Under the plan by Fenty (D), the board will be renamed the D.C. State Board of Education. Although it will have mostly the same members, its mission will shift from setting academic standards to overseeing big-picture issues, including teacher certification and standardized testing. The job of responding to parents' concerns, which often has consumed the board's time and energy, will fall to a new ombudsman.

During its 39 years, the school board has changed in size, was ousted by the federally appointed D.C. financial control board in 1996 and then voted back into power by residents in 2000 as a panel of four appointed and five elected members.

Over the years, although there has been a steady stream of dismal reports on the academics and physical condition of D.C. schools, some board policies fostered student achievement and some well-regarded schools.

Iris Toyer, a parent activist who was on the school board, said that in the eyes of parents and students, two of the most significant accomplishments were the board's adoption of rigorous teaching and learning standards -- considered by experts as among the toughest in the country -- and the approval of a comprehensive, multiyear plan to renovate aging schools.

Last year, the board also produced a plan to eliminate 3 million square feet of excess space by closing under-enrolled schools by 2008.

"It was a thoughtful and principled approach to what is probably the board's most difficult task," said Mary Levy of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Levy said that the school system previously had responded too slowly to falling student enrollment and that past school boards were afraid to tackle such a hot-button issue.

"The way the board handled it this time was in stark contrast to past decades, when school closings have been heavily politicized," Levy said.

In the early 1990s, when board members looked for a way to give parents and schools more control over decisions, they created school-based restructuring teams of parents, teachers and principals. The teams give parents a direct role in shaping school policies, allowing them to recommend cuts or additions to individual school budgets as funding changes with enrollment.