In today's Washington Post Mike Debonis has an in depth interview with Councilwoman Muriel Bowser who last weekend announced that she is running for D.C. Mayor. I, of course, was most interested in what she had to say about the subject of public education:
Mr. Debois: Is there any initiative that the chancellor or anyone has proposed where you don’t see the wherewithal or political will to get it done?
Ms. Bowser: I don’t think we have that big idea. What have we really seen in that last two years around schools? So we’re going to close some, we’re going to change the boundaries. Where are the big ideas?
Mr. Debois: Do you have a big idea?
Ms. Bowser: I think what we have to do first of all is set some goals around what should school reform look like. And that’s not just K-12, which has taken all of our attention, not just preschool, but it’s collecting UDC, it’s connecting the community college, It’s connecting the private universities and it’s connecting workforce development. Call those things what they are. It’s a system of education for the District of Columbia.
One big idea she should have mentioned is turning over the about to be shuttered 15 DCPS buildings to charters who desperately need them. Or what about the other 10 that are sitting around gathering dust? Her comments come on the heels of a crises over space that these alternative schools are facing. From an editorial last weekend by former Public Charter School Board Chairman Tom Nida:
"Last school year, D.C. charters received 15,000 more applications than available seats. By contrast, DCPS school buildings have space for 20,740 additional students, the city has found. Over the next four years, currently open D.C. charters will require 1.6 million additional square feet of space, and new charter schools will need 1.7 million extra square feet of space, to accommodate new students. Meanwhile, DCPS middle and high schools are one-third empty."
If Ms. Bowser really cares about school reform she do whatever it takes to get kids into quality seats. Here is just one example of how she could help. At the FOCUS Gala last week I asked Two River's executive director Jessica Wodatch about her recently announced expansion plans. She explained to me that the school does not know exactly the form it will take but it will almost certainly involve acquiring another building. This Tier 1 Performance Management Framework charter had over 1,800 applications this year for about 30 spaces.
Ms. Bowser provided assistance in having Rudolph Elementary awarded to Washington Latin PCS. Now she should do the same for others. Without delay the Mayoral candidate should announce that her vision of school reform involves immediately turning closed DCPS facilities over to charter schools.
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