jonetta rose barras: Is education reform being misdirected?

The deterioration of DC’s education reform structure started initially during Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration. According to education advocates, he delegated far too many important decisions to his deputy mayor for education (DME), though he would insist otherwise.

Gray’s actions appear to have run counter to the intent of the District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007, championed by his predecessor Adrian Fenty. The 2007 law placed the entire public education apparatus under the direct control and influence of the mayor. That change was designed to provide protection to DC Public Schools leadership and guarantee critical funding for the system to grow while improving services to all children, particularly those from low-income communities. But since Fenty’s re-election loss in 2010, the prime responsibility for education reform has been offloaded to various deputy mayors or acting deputy mayors — each of questionable expertise with marginal vision.

Mayor Muriel Bowser has escalated this erosion considerably and is now creating a scenario where education could become subservient to non-education issues. Consider that recently she relocated the entire Department of Employment Services (DOES) — along with the Workforce Investment Council, a private-sector-led advisory board — under the umbrella of the DME. That shift came without any public discussion, either in the community or in the DC Council. Equally important, it occurred even as DOES and the public schools, both traditional and charters, have stumbled with implementing new programs or improving existing ones.

DOES revealed during a public hearing in February that it had not met the deadline for hiring the third-party contractor critical to setting up the computerized payment system. A spokesperson for the DME insisted on Thursday evening, after this column was first published, that “DOES is on track to establish a system to receive tax revenue for the District’s paid family leave program by July 1, 2019, the legislative deadline.” Some folks in the John A. Wilson Building have called that wishful thinking.

Both public school sectors have been unable to close an ever-widening achievement gap between white students and students of color. They also have fallen short in achieving other essential goals: significantly raising graduation rates, retaining top-quality instructors and improving physical plant conditions at DC schools. Overall, the District government hasn’t developed an effective prescription for improving the interaction between DCPS and charters to enhance the overall quality of public education, even as taxpayers are forking over more than $2 billion of their money.

Add to those issues the fact that two education leaders are new to their jobs. Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn was hired in October, and DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee was confirmed for his post only last month.

Is this really the best time to implement a major reorganization of this kind?

Under Bowser, the District government has become an amorphous structure. With a $15.5 billion fiscal year 2020 budget, the city is getting increasingly expensive to operate. Simultaneously, the quality of many services and programs has declined and the government has failed to deliver measurable improvements in the lives of many DC residents. The public education system may be the most noticeable; more than two-thirds of students scored at or below proficient on the city’s standardized tests.

Bowser’s spokesperson, who had not responded to my initial request earlier this week, called Thursday to provide a comment about the mayor’s rationale for the change. “She is focused on spreading prosperity across the city, and making sure people have access to good-paying jobs,” the spokesperson said. “The only way to do that is to make sure people have proper education and training.”

When I asked how the labor, business and non-education functions of DOES fit in with that thinking, the spokesperson could not provide an answer, repeating her initial explanation.

DME Kihn was on paternity leave and could not respond personally to my concerns. His spokesperson highlighted the statement Kihn made last month during a council performance oversight hearing, where he said he anticipated “significant, exciting, new opportunities for collaboration and coordination across education and workforce development.” Kihn also said he looked forward “to better leveraging partnerships with the business community to provide opportunities for learning and employment for District youth.”

No rationale there.

The DOES previously operated under the deputy mayor for greater economic opportunity, a division Bowser created in her first term when she sought to assuage concerns from residents in low-income, predominantly African-American communities where she was not hugely popular. Now, after being re-elected, Bowser has dissolved that deputy mayor post and turned its core responsibilities over to a new Office of East of the River Coordination, reporting to the city administrator.

“Education and workforce training services have become critical pipelines that give residents a fair shot at career success while boosting the local economy,” DOES director Unique Morris-Hughes wrote in an unsolicited email to me. She said the placement of her agency and the workforce council under the DME “further ensures that the next generation of Washingtonians are able to achieve economic stability.”

On the surface, shifting DOES to the education cluster might seem like a smart move, given the workforce training programs the agency conducts through private contractors. At-large DC Council members Elissa Silverman and David Grosso said they were excited about the move and the opportunities it presents.

“There are always concerns about capacity for any of the deputy mayors, but our schools’ primary mission is to educate our students and prepare them for life after school, including employment,” said Grosso, chair of the Committee on Education.

Silverman, chair of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, agreed. She has been focused since joining the council on improving and expanding training programs, including summer-job opportunities. She told me the city has so far not taken advantage of “low-hanging fruit” by aligning its education system with workforce development. “A lot of job-seekers are in need of literacy and numeracy training, which has been a major obstacle to employment,” she said.

“When given skills they need, they want to learn. They are looking for [a] second chance,” continued Silverman. “What we want to do is create a city where every resident has a chance to reach his or her potential.”

That’s all admirable. However, it’s unlikely that goal can be achieved with efficiency and effectiveness under the structure Bowser has created. After all, DOES isn’t just an employment training agency. Its key functions center around business and labor — responsibilities that may not get enough attention under the new setup.

Among other things, DOES enforces local labor laws, investigates wage complaints, evaluates workplace health and safety issues, and adjudicates private-sector compensation and medical claims, according to the agency’s website. It also processes unemployment claims. With the recent passage of universal paid leave, the agency will begin collecting taxes from businesses for a new fund to finance those benefits. Add to the enormity of its responsibilities the fact that DOES is now operating under its third director in the four years since Bowser first took office in January 2015.

Neither Morris-Hughes nor her spokesperson responded to my question about how the business and labor portfolio of the agency would be affected by the shift to the education cluster.

“That’s a lot [of responsibility],” said Robert Bobb, DC city administrator under Mayor Anthony Williams and president of the DC Board of Education when it lost authority over the public schools due to the transition to mayoral control. “Hopefully the city administrator can guide some of the internal policies and administration.”

Bobb, now a turnaround management consultant, believes the new framework is worth a shot: “We can see how it works for the first year.”

I’m not sure I agree. If this new organizational structure proves faulty — distracting the deputy mayor for education from his core responsibilities — how many children would it fail? How much of taxpayers’ money would be poorly spent? Can the city really afford the risk?

This column has been updated to clarify a reference to DOES having missed a deadline critical to implementation of the Universal Paid Leave Act, and to include comments from the mayor’s spokesperson provided on Thursday several hours after this piece was initially published.

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jonetta rose barras is a DC-based freelance writer and host of The Barras Report television show. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.