Despite the city's 25-year history of misguided and ineffectual elected school boards and the current board's sorry track record, a D.C. Council majority seems dead set on preserving an elected panel with authority to hire and fire superintendents. The scene stirs memories of the period leading up to the District's bankruptcy, when fiscally irresponsible council members ignored warnings about the destructive path they were on. Their failure to take tough political decisions ultimately cost the city a large measure of home rule and helped bring on the financial control board. As if preserving a discredited governance system and setting up a possible confrontation with the mayor, control board and Congress aren't worrisomeenough, there are now moves afoot to unsettle the current superintendent and discourage any other first-class school administrator from coming within miles of the District. This new officer, and no longer the superintendent, would oversee student enrollment,decide minimum requirements for instructional hours and take charge of construction funds and incoming federal money.
Proponents regard the proposal as responsive to the mayor's demand for school accountability.
It doesn't stop there. That's Mayor Williams's proposal, and he's willing to submit the idea to a voter referendum. Instead of accepting that process, or rejecting it outright, the council is trying to have things both ways, and thereby making them worse. Under Mr. Catania's plan, the mayor would have to declare an emergency and submit a finding of facts to the council, which might or might not give its consent. The District of Columbia has made substantial progress toward economic and political recovery, but it will never make it all the way with a failing school system.