Opinion

As the audience inside the Woman’s National Democratic Club on New Hampshire Avenue NW waited last November for Ward 2 DC Councilmember Brooke Pinto to arrive to deliver lunchtime remarks, the chatter at some tables wasn’t charitable. A…

This month marked a formal goodbye to Dr. Ramona Edelin, my dear friend and an indefatigable fighter for social justice whose memorial service was held recently at Shiloh Baptist Church. A keen student of the work of W.E.B. Du…

As a native Washingtonian, I have witnessed the invaluable contributions of early childhood educators in my community. And, as the great-granddaughter and niece of early educators, I know full well the sacrifices we ask our child care…

The two just don’t seem to jibe: lamentations by elected officials about the tough decisions they are being forced to make and the generous $11.4 billion local fiscal year 2025 operating budget as submitted last week by Mayor Muriel…

When you have an opponent on the ropes and they know it, gloating is in poor taste. Proper etiquette for the victor is to “smile, generously, then move on,” my grandfather advised me during my youth, after hearing me taunt a player who had…

Finally, DC Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee has decided to close — at least partially — the public’s wallet to Mayor Muriel Bowser and the gang of DC Council spendthrifts. He is demanding that they replenish the Fiscal Stabilization…

DC high school students have given more than 45 testimonies at recent DC State Board of Education (SBOE) meetings, pushing these sessions past 10 p.m. The impetus? A dream of a greener, more sustainable and healthier future for DC…

Last week, I received a copy of an invitation that was sent to several civic leaders in Ward 1, requesting their presence at a fundraiser organized by several developers and lobbyists — Warren Williams, Warner Session, John Clyburn,…

The ritual of signature gathering in the District may seem perpetual — although dozens of candidates for political office, including four incumbent DC Council members, hoping to claim a space on the June primary ballot submitted their…

Mayor Muriel Bowser recently announced her intention to increase the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF) by 12.4% when she submits her Fiscal Year 2025 Budget and Financial Plan to the DC Council next month. The hike in the UPSFF,…

It’s all coming together, portending real trouble for DC — its government and, consequently, its residents — regardless of the positive spin elected officials may want to put on things, asserting that compared to other state and local…

What makes a school great? And how should we measure that? Each public school in DC is profiled and measured with a report card. The DC School Report Card, according to education officials, is meant to give families a look at…

DC residents deserve to be safe in their homes and neighborhoods, and they are understandably demanding city leaders address the recent rise in homicides and gun violence with actions that will ensure their communities are safe,…

It probably doesn’t matter that despite a historic rise in violent crime that is instilling fear in many DC residents, causing them to dramatically alter their daily routines while contributing to the closure of significant numbers of…

Gun violence. Rising rents. Wildfire smoke. If your only perspective of DC over the past year came straight from the headlines, you might wonder: What crisis is next? Amid rising concerns around public safety, many voices have clamored for…

Many people — myself included — supported the DC Council’s recent move toward filing a lawsuit against Mayor Muriel Bowser for her unwillingness to follow the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Support Act, which mandated that a portion of any…

Before the pandemic, DC’s public education system was on the upswing. Gains were made on both local and national metrics. The District was widely hailed as the fastest-improving state and urban system in the country. Our progress and…

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser stood in a room inside the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall across the street from the Capital One Arena, which could be seen just behind her right shoulder. Former DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams stood to her…

I thought my son was doing fine. He was getting A’s on his assignments, and his teacher said he was doing great. It wasn’t until we saw his NAEP score that we learned he wasn’t reading at his grade level — we had missed years of…

As families across the District come together to share the bounty of holiday meals, a starkly different scene unfolds behind the walls of DC’s jails. Controversy about how to address recent spikes in crime shouldn’t blind us to a…