Council Hearing on Bill B17-0001
The District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007
February 20, 2007
Testimony of Nancy Huvendick, 21st Century School Fund
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My name is Nancy Huvendick, I am DC Program Director for the 21st Century School
Fund, a small non-profit that seeks to improve urban public school facilities. We work
both in the District and nationally; our executive director, Mary Filardo, testified here last
week. I have two children who have been in DCPS since Pre-K, one is now in college.
The Mayor has rightly recognized the very real problems within pubic education in the
District and put it at the top of his agenda and everyone applauds him for this. But the
Council is obligated to ask if the right solutions have been proposed.
Policy vs. Implementation: Will Governance Change Help Students and Teachers?
This proposed realignment of government is immense and so too is the inevitable
disruption, expense and time required to accomplish it. Creating new organizations and
re-shuffling current functions have to be weighed against how linked they are with
graduating more high school students ready to fully enjoy civic life, work and college.
Several witnesses have already noted that governance is not the crux of the problem; it’s
implementation of policy that’s the problem - - the details of how the work is going to be
accomplished. But the massive change in governance that is proposed does not address
implementation. We all want swift and efficient change but effective change is what we
need and that takes thorough understanding, careful consideration and detailed planning.
The Mayor’s Proposal is a Massive Restructuring of Government
The District’s Chief Financial Officer in his testimony last week stated that the Mayor’s
plan “is the biggest restructuring we’ve ever seen”. Three new government entities are
instituted and a fourth is greatly expanded: the Department of Education, the Educational
Facilities Maintenance and Construction Authority and the Interagency Commission, are
all new; State Education Office functions are substantially expanded and a new data
collection system is proposed for use by 17 different agencies that deal with families,
children and schools. Effectively abolishing the DCPS Board of Education is another
major change that would inevitably shift public input regarding public education directly
over to the Council.
Change in Carefully Executed Stages
This legislation is multi-faceted and complex; changes in the legislation would improve
the chances of getting the effective educational reform that we all want. Some of the
mayor’s initiatives have been almost universally welcomed: the Department of
Education, the Interagency Commission, moving all state education functions to the State
Education Office. Reforming facilities maintenance and construction remains
problematic, and effectively doing away with the DCPS Board of Education remains very
controversial.
A reasonable roadmap for educational reform in the District could take parts of the
mayor’s proposed changes and accomplish those transitions very well. If the system is
Council Hearing on Bill B17-0001
The District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007
February 20, 2007
Testimony of Nancy Huvendick, 21st Century School Fund
2
not asked to absorb impossible amounts of change too quickly, then real improvement
would be more feasible and faster. If in18 months, a limited implementation has been
effected and the situation has improved, then other changes could be similarly instituted.
Consolidated State Education Office under the Mayor
Moving the state education functions will increase accountability for the Mayor. It will
streamline DCPS.
Doing this will require substantial new and additional staff, including accompanying
support infrastructure. It will be necessary to extricate state functions from DCPS and
UDC. This will be difficult and will involve scores of employees, offices, equipment,
cost centers, etc. It must include the transfer of private placement tuition and special
education transportation which are rightly state expenses. Consolidating the State
Education functions is a big job, but the planning for this began more than five years ago,
and we have a State Education Officer with experience, a capable framework of staff
already in place and a solid foundation for consolidating state functions.
Dept. of Education;
Establishing a Department of Education under the Mayor is an important step toward
bringing city agencies and resources to bear on education outcomes. This alone, even
without transferring state functions will be an extensive restructuring for the city. This
department will need time to add value. The city wide planning and interagency
responsibilities for the deputy mayor for education are critical and need to be functioning
as soon as possible. However, this does not require any legislative action to occur.
Educational Facilities Authority
On the other hand, the scope of responsibility envisioned for the Facilities Maintenance
and Construction Authority is truly huge with enormous power that will include staffing
and budgeting to match - - and that’s assuming that most of the actual construction would
be out-sourced. The School Construction Authority would be far larger and more
powerful than either the National Capital Revitalization Corporation or the Anacostia
Waterfront Corporation, both of which are under scrutiny as out of control and
ineffective. Unfortunately, school construction authorities haven’t really worked well
anywhere, even when their responsibilities have been narrowly drawn; so there is no
good model to follow.
DCPS presented an appropriate management plan to the Council. Both the Council and
Mayor should work with DCPS to make sure the specifics of the plan follow best practice
and then make the necessary procurement reforms to support their implementation.
There will need to be close collaboration between the Department of Education and
DCPS in implementing the Capital Improvement Plan. The Council, through its budget
process needs to ensure projects brought forward are fully developed and appropriate to
fund.
Council Hearing on Bill B17-0001
The District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007
February 20, 2007
Testimony of Nancy Huvendick, 21st Century School Fund
3
Hold Fast to the DCPS Board of Education
The main force of the mayor’s legislation is hold DCPS accountable for implementation
of improvement plans by concentrating all power for education policy and school
operation in the office of the mayor and the chancellor. This proposal provides no
avenue for public input. Without the Board of Education as a structured way to absorb
ideas from the people closest to the classroom, the proposed system hamstrings itself and
unfairly marginalizes District parents. With the mayor’s plan the Council will become
the de-facto Board of Education with implicit responsibilities and time-consuming
obligations but very narrow real power. It would be unwise for the District to jettison the
Board of Education for the Council when there are so many municipal issues needing
Council attention. This will deprive parents of the level of access required when issues
regarding their children are at stake.
It’s taken a long time for public education, both DCPS and the public charter schools, to
get into their current state. I respect the Council and the Mayor for initiating change and
holding these hearings, but developing a good structure for an effective educational
renaissance is going to take additional creativity and attention. The Council must take
the time to consider in detail just what will happen if this legislation moves forward as
currently proposed.
Meanwhile, DCPS local schools continue to deal with the difficult everyday task of
budgeting for next fall. I would invite you to read through the recent “Weighted Student
Formula Kickoff” materials attached to my testimony. This is clear, detailed instruction
from DCPS; it is lengthy but the task is not simple. This will give you an idea of the
level of detail that principals, teachers and parents are wrestling with as they build
individual school budgets and try to stretch limited resources. This is where it counts
because this is what directly affects classrooms.
Nancy Huvendick
DC Programs Director
21st Century School Fund
1816 12th St., NW, 3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20009
202-745-3745 x15
nhuvendick@21csf.org