Coming Soon: The Real Schools Battle

That's because the majority of the school system's workers collect D.C. paychecks but don't pay D.C. income taxes. And Congress prohibits the city from imposing a commuter tax.

So what does the District get in return?

Poor performance, as measured by student test scores, and a school system facilities program that, according to Allen Y. Lew, the new D.C. schools construction czar, "is in gridlock and paralysis."

Consider: 51 percent of fourth-graders score below basic skill levels in math and 61 percent score below basic in reading.

District eighth-graders score even lower: 66 percent below basic in math; 52 percent below basic in reading.

Those results, compiled on this year's National Assessment of Educational Progress, show D.C. students falling far short of national averages. They are outperformed by students in Maryland and Virginia, by wide margins and in every category.

Crumbling school buildings speak for themselves.

So when the howling starts in a few weeks, city legislators should remember those records of failure, who's responsible and where most of them live.

The days of sweeping poor performances under the rug are over. The time to reshape the school system's culture is now.

The council must know that the reputed adverse political consequences of removing deadwood from the system are pure fiction.

Of course, Fenty, and especially Rhee, can't run roughshod over people. The administration should know the rules and prepare. Terminations that are based on poor performance or a lack of skills must be documented and justified.

But that's not all, in this race-conscious city.