Coming Soon: The Real Schools Battle

If you are among those District residents who cheered Mayor Adrian Fenty's takeover of the public school system, it's time to tighten the old chin strap and gear up for battle. The Fenty administration is about to go to war.

After weeks of observing and probing, Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee have decided to take a whack at the Gordian knot entangling the D.C. school system. They intend to cut down to size the central office, which they regard as an obstruction to school reform. They also want to rid the system of underperforming principals and teachers, who are as hard to get rid of as a bad cold.

The Fenty administration, however, can't move decisively without expanded authority to terminate employees. For that, it needs the D.C. Council's cooperation.

But even as legislation is being drafted in the executive branch, defenders of the status quo have started to circle their wagons. And nervous lawmakers, especially those facing the voters next year, are beginning to engage in the council's favorite dance: It's called "slipping and a-sliding, peeping and a-hiding" -- moves designed to avoid taking a firm position on the firings.

But, you ask, didn't the council approve the mayor's plan to take over the schools? Yes. Fenty's plan won council approval by a robust 9 to 2 vote in April. But that was then, this is now, and overnight can be a lifetime in politics.

To buck up council weaklings, Fenty and Rhee are going to need the support of residents who are tired of their children suffering the consequences of a poorly performing school system.

Residents can do their part by letting the council know where the real political clout resides.

There will be plenty of noise generated by disgruntled school system staffers. But raising hell is not the same as casting D.C. ballots.

Truth be told, the D.C. school system is a job center for suburbanites -- and they can't vote in the District.

Twelve years ago, I reported that 65 percent of the school system's principals lived outside the city, as did 50 percent of teachers ["A Radioactive School Board," op-ed, Aug. 26, 1995].

The central office itself is a commuter haven. Roughly 520 of the 914 employees at headquarters, or 57 percent, are not D.C. residents.

Those numbers ought to strike home with D.C. taxpayers: Most of the school system's payroll ends up in Maryland and Virginia coffers.