Panel Rejects Plan to Reopen Road in Rock Creek Park

Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who is not on the committee but has long opposed reopening the road, made sure he was at the meeting yesterday. He told Graham that four of the five members on the committee were not around in 2003. "Just as you vote to do, you can vote to undo," Barry said.

But a committee chairman can also exercise his prerogative, Graham said. Although the committee rejected a hearing, he said he would hold a roundtable. "That's their vote," he said. "I'm still chairman of the committee."

Also yesterday, Fenty, council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) and D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi appeared before a House Appropriations subcommittee to discuss President Bush's federal budget allocation for the District. Bush's proposal includes more than $30 million in new funding to help public education, including a onetime subsidy of $20 million to help Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee in her effort to restructure the system.

Subcommittee Chairman Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) and other panel members pledged to support the city's school improvement plans.

Under the proposed federal education budget, the city would also get $18 million for charter schools and the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides vouchers to allow low-income students to choose alternatives to the public system. When Fenty was asked whether he would support an increase in the amount for vouchers, he demurred, saying he was satisfied with the proposed package.

But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) later told Serrano that she, Fenty and Gray oppose vouchers and that charter schools provide a sufficient alternative to vouchers.

Staff writer David Nakamura contributed to this report.