D.C. should open the school budget process

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In a lobbying effort that's been quietly gaining steam for weeks, Marc Borbely, of Fix Our Schools, puts the issue squarely before the District's elected leaders today : Do we value the opportunity for parents, teachers, students and neighbors to be involved from the start in the D.C. public schools' budget process?

Mr. Borbely and a coalition of school advocates asked the question in a petition signed by a long list of community and civic organizations across the city.

This group of concerned D.C. taxpayers will get their answer today when the council takes its first vote on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's proposed fiscal 2009 budget, which includes a $773 million allocation for the school system.

In fact, the council vote could well be marked as the members' independence day. That's if they summon the gumption to buck the mayor and reclaim some of their power.

"The school budget is a window, maybe even a doorway, into how [Mr. Fenty] operates in general," said Iris Toyer, director of the D.C. Public School Partnerships Project of the Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, and a member of the education coalition.

"The entire budget is a mishmash," she said. "You cannot track anything. And if I were on the council, I'd give it back" to the mayor.

Most likely the council members — a number of them seeking reelection — will amend Gen. Greenhorn's numbers for their pet ward projects. That's easy enough.

However, the school activists and citizens will be watching more closely to see whether the council moves to strike a seemingly small proposal by the mayor to scrap separate hearings — which were required under the former governance structure for the school system's budget. Or will the council choke and let the measure stand unchallenged?

School advocates argue and present studies that demonstrate the more parental and community input, the better and faster the improvements in a school system. The school system's budget determines the school system's priorities at the individual school level.

Therefore, the advocates contend, their inability to view the D.C. school budget before it is sent by the school chancellor to the mayor, who then forwards it to the council, which in turn holds its own public hearings, reduces input by school-based committees that are more familiar with individual school's needs.

Once the mayor's numbers are sent to the council, it is too far along in the budget process to alter and the possibility for greater political pressure by special groups exists, Mrs. Toyer said.

It may sound like inside baseball, but scratch the surface and today's council vote is about more than just the money. It's about respectful government representation, transparency, accountability and credibility.

No doubt the fall council election will be the first barometer of the D.C. electorates' approval or rebuttal not only of Gen. Greenhorn's school takeover project and his gung-ho governance style but also of the council-s acquiescence to it. Surely, some D.C. taxpayers will not forget they were forced to go to court, unsuccessfully, to secure a school-budget hearing the mayor and his minions refused them, with no help from the council to date.

The biggest complaint around town is the secrecy surrounding many of the changes, led by school Chancellor Michele A. Rhee. Holding hearings that are meaningless is just one example of this administration's activities that circumvent, rather than encourage,, civic and parental engagement.

Failure to notify the legislative branch of new initiatives and new hires before they are leaked to selected members of the press is equally offensive.

Mrs. Toyer said her sister named the administration's style "microwave management," because it lacks thought and has no clear plan.

Still, Mr. Fenty, a Democrat, and his staffers, charge full speed ahead as if its constituents' questions and concerns are of no matter.

"Every question is taken as a challenge rather than an opportunity for clarity and to help you think about things that perhaps you haven't," Mrs. Toyer said.

The council has an opportunity to regain some of its credibility today, in no small measure by reinstating school budget hearings that will signal they are listening to the will of the D.C. populace that is tiring of Mr. Fenty's penchant for style over substance.

Will the city's weak legislative body correct this imbalance and decide what the public has a right to know and when they have a right to know it. We'll see.