Opinion

Ward 2 DC Council member Jack Evans told me this week he will allow the license for his corporation to expire — therefore, he’ll no longer have outside employment effective April 1, 2019. That’s a solid act of contrition. Evans may…

There is no national issue more critical in the African-American community today than improving the quality of education offered to our young men and women. Whether we’re talking about DC or Indianapolis, we know that if we do not…

Every February since taking office in 2015, Mayor Muriel Bowser has held a series of public events with the stated purpose of allowing DC residents to give meaningful input into the District’s budget. Billed as “Budget Engagement Forums,”…

As the annual application period for DC’s public school lottery once again comes to an end, it’s an opportune time for education officials to consider how to improve school choice in the District in future years. In particular, we need to…

Just last month, many District residents were celebrating the start of Democratic control of the U.S. House of Representatives. With this shift, DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, supported by Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC Council Chairman…

In just a month, Mayor Muriel Bowser faces the first test of the pledge to use her second term to be bold in tackling DC’s biggest challenges, like affordable housing and homelessness. That test will come on March 20 when she releases the…

I asked myself that question when DC Council Chairman Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie and eight of his colleagues introduced the Center for Firearm Violence Prevention Research Establishment Act of 2019. Were they suffering group confusion or…

The DC Council’s 2018 voting record demonstrates that too many of our local elected officials are not on board with the real policy change that is necessary to make the District a place where every resident can thrive. On issues…

My career as a DC Public Schools (DCPS) student will come to an end in June once I complete my senior year of high school. Having grown up in the school system, I have been encouraged by the progress we have made and discouraged by the…

“We are only as strong as a city as the ward that struggles the most. You cannot represent the District of Columbia as a whole and not reflect that in your words, actions and budget decisions.” These were Mayor Muriel Bowser’s words on…

When DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue, and Attorney General Karl Racine announced earlier this month that they intended to treat the rise in community violence as a public health crisis, I…

I remember the summers I spent at Fairfax Village in the Hillcrest neighborhood, here in the District with my Aunt Beatrice. She was also in the family business of education, a retired teacher from Scott Montgomery Elementary School in…

Mayor Muriel Bowser recently announced she will be partnering with federal prosecutors and law enforcement to aggressively pursue longer sentences, including harsher mandatory minimum sentences, for those charged with gun possession…

DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson recently revived his proposal to break up the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, which he first introduced more than a year ago in the previous council period. Under his bill, a new Department…

In DC nearly half of all public school students attend charter schools, rather than schools in the traditional public system known as DC Public Schools (DCPS). Although the charter schools are “public” in a sense — they are open to…

As expected, the DC Council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue pushed online gambling forward this week by approving the Sports Wagering Procurement Practices Reform Exemption Act of 2019. The vote was 3-2, with Ward 2 member Jack Evans,…

Why is your children's education so tied to where you can afford to live? Because the river of inequity in our city runs deep, especially when it comes to our schools. As DC parents finalize their school preferences before upcoming…

Each year, the week commencing with Martin Luther King Jr. Day also marks National School Choice Week, during which a kaleidoscope of educational organizations, school leaders, teachers, parents, guardians, students and elected officials…

The flaws in the DC Council’s public policymaking were on full display earlier this week when a supermajority of the legislature chose to override Mayor Muriel Bowser’s veto of the Fare Evasion Decriminalization Amendment Act of 2018.…