By Theola Labbé
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

What happens when the District's highest-ranking elected official holds a hearing on the schools and just nine people show up to speak?

The gathering continues.

Yesterday, five adults and four students testified before Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) about the school system's fiscal 2009 budget. The turnout was paltry given the interest generated by Fenty's plan to close 23 schools and institute other initiatives.

But activists said there were clear reasons why so few attended the public hearing at Woodson Senior High School in Northeast: the time (9 a.m.), the location (a school not easily accessible by public transportation) and the lack of details in a budget document issued last week.

"The reason why nobody was there is because there is no chancellor's budget," said Marc Borbely, a school activist.

Borbely led a group of advocates who filed suit against Fenty and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee in D.C. Superior Court last week seeking budget information in advance of yesterday's hearing. After arguing the case before a judge Friday, Peter J. Nickles, the city's interim attorney general, released a 46-page budget document.

Nickles said in an interview yesterday that the Fenty administration shared the information to be "transparent" but that it was not obligated to release anything. Laws cited by activists requiring public participation in the budget process referred to the now-defunct D.C. Board of Education, Nickles said.

"The public will get their chance to comment on the numbers when the mayor and the city administrator decide what the numbers are and present them to the city council," Nickles said. The mayor is scheduled to submit the budget to the D.C. Council on March 20.

Parents such as Jackie Pinckney-Hackett don't want to wait until then. She testified at yesterday's hearing that the documents lacked details about potential new academic programs to follow the closing of the 23 schools and about plans for schools that have failed to meet reading and math benchmarks on standardized tests.

"Exactly how much money is dedicated to the restructuring of schools? . . . Exactly how much money is dedicated to the new programs and initiatives proposed by the chancellor?" Pinckney-Hackett asked. "This budget needs to be explained in detail to the parents and community."

Mary Levy, a school finance expert who is director of the Public Education Reform Project for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, said the documents raised many questions.

For example, payroll expenses for coaching and activities stipends would drop from $505 million to $168 million, which could mean layoffs of teachers who provide those services or a transfer to private contractors, Levy said.

At the hearing, one student asked Fenty for a more diverse array of extracurricular and academic programs.

"All Woodson has to offer is football and basketball," said Woodson senior Brandon Crews, 17. "What about glee club?"