[Home and Schooll] Record Funding Boost Likely for Schools

[Patricia Raymond]

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Kudos to these parents -  Let's Do It!!!! !

 

Record Funding Boost Likely for Schools
Costly Stadium Plan Provoked Advocates to Fight for Systemwide
Renovations

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 5, 2006; C05

The D.C. Council is expected to approve the biggest school funding
increase in city history after months of pressure from more than 1,000
parents, educators and activists galvanized by the decision to pay
millions for a new ballpark.

Long rebuffed in their pleas for more money for decrepit public schools,
frustrated parents said they were outraged when the mayor and council
agreed in 2004 to spend more than $500 million on a baseball stadium, a
price tag that since has risen. Over the past year, groups across the
city banded together to form a single, powerful lobby focused on forcing
city leaders to do for schoolchildren what they agreed to do for Major
League Baseball.

The campaign appears to have worked. On Tuesday, the council is expected
to give preliminary approval to a bill that would devote an additional
$100 million a year -- $1 billion over the next decade -- to school
modernization, enough to complete a systemwide overhaul. Although debate
continues over how to fund the measure, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp
(D) said passage is all but assured, and a spokesman said the mayor
intends to sign it.

In addition to a large and disciplined grass-roots movement, a variety
of other factors helped propel schools to the top of the council agenda,
activists and political analysts said. Polls show that education is by
far the most important issue to D.C. voters at a time when seven of the
13 council members are running for reelection or higher office. Three
are competing to replace retiring Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D),
including Cropp and the bill's author, Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4).

The city also has a huge budget surplus and fresh confidence in Clifford
B. Janey, the superintendent of the school system, which has had an
abysmal record on renovations.

"It was a nice harmonic convergence," said Matt Wuerker, a Woodley Park
activist whose son attends Woodrow Wilson Senior High School. "Oddly
enough, it was the baseball stadium that gave us a new element of
leverage. . . . Baseball, ironically, created the political opening for
schools."

The contrast was stark. After years of deferred maintenance, many of the
city's 147 schools are in appalling condition. The buildings -- 73 years
old, on average -- have leaking roofs, stopped-up bathrooms, ancient
lighting and air-handling systems that leave classrooms freezing or
stifling.

In 2000, the school board adopted a $3.5 billion plan to renovate every
school by 2020. But annual council funding never hit the $300 million
goal, and the plan fell apart after several projects came in over
budget. By the time baseball came on the scene, the mayor was proposing
to drop the school renovation budget to just under $100 million.

At the same time, Williams proposed building a state-of-the-art baseball
stadium with luxury skyboxes and views of the Capitol. A new tax on
business would be used as collateral for revenue bonds. The deal brought
the former Montreal Expos to Washington but quickly became a political
lightning rod, viewed by some as potent evidence that city leaders cater
to the privileged. The city is working to control costs of the stadium
project, now estimated at $667 million.

In September 2004, voters booted three council members who supported the
stadium deal. After much public hand-wringing, the council approved it
that December, days before the new members took office.

Fenty, planning a run for mayor, voted no. Afterward, stadium opponent
Ed Lazere remembers telling him that the deal easily could provoke a
backlash.

"I said, 'The progressive response to this ought to be, if you can issue
bonds for a baseball stadium, you can issue bonds for schools. So let's
do a big bond for schools,' " recalled Lazere, executive director of the
D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.

Others made the same connection. Although school modernization already
was the focus of hearings chaired by council member Kathy Patterson
(D-Ward 3), "the stadium thing, in my mind, really helped propel
things," said Marc Borbely, a former Eastern High School teacher and a
leader of the schools coalition. "It was something we used to generate
outrage."

In April, at the Washington Nationals' home opener, school advocates
staged one of their first protests. More than 400 people handed out
peanuts to arriving fans under signs reading, "Millions for the stadium,
Peanuts for the kids."

Five days later, Fenty announced his schools bill, a $1 billion bond
issuance that would have been secured by D.C. Lottery revenue. Cropp
sent it to two committees: Patterson's education committee and the
finance and revenue panel chaired by Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).

The bill quickly was dismissed as unrealistic. "There's no money
available," said Evans, who was considering a mayoral run at the time.
Cropp responded with what she called a "fiscally prudent" plan to raise
$150 million for schools. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi said
Fenty's bill would generate no more than $400 million while wrecking the
city's bond rating.

But in late spring, Fenty, Evans and others started polling. When the
results came in, education popped off the page. In Fenty's poll, it
exceeded other issues, including crime and affordable housing, as the
top concern by more than 40 percentage points.

Ron Lester, who did a poll for then-mayoral contender and current
at-large council candidate A. Scott Bolden (D), said even affluent white
voters ranked public schools as their top priority, a "sea change" over
past surveys.

"People are more stressed financially. With the recent housing boom,
they have to pay these high mortgages," Lester said. "Two-income couples
each earning $100,000 are stressed because of the private-school bill.
They would like to send their kids to public schools, but they really
don't trust them. So education becomes a quality-of-life issue."

Activists latched onto the Fenty bill, packing the council chamber for a
July public hearing. "People said it was crazy, unworkable," Borbely
said, but it was something concrete to fight for. "Without that bill, we
would be a bunch of advocates screaming in the wind," he said.

On July 14, the finance committee voted. Council member Marion Barry
(D-Ward 8) was absent. Patterson voted yes. And, in a bizarre piece of
political theater, Evans, mayoral candidate Vincent B. Orange Sr.
(D-Ward 5) and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) criticized the bill, then
declined to vote yea or nay. They registered "present," and the bill
survived on a vote of 1 to 0.

In a recent interview, Evans said he couldn't vote for the measure
because it "didn't make any sense."

"I tried to explain to everyone why it didn't make any sense, but nobody
would listen. So, I just said, 'Okay, we'll just pass the bill,' " Evans
said. "Maybe we should have voted it down, but I thought the end result
couldn't have been better."

The end result is a measure that has been completely reworked, first by
Patterson -- who proposed funding it with new taxes and by delaying a
planned cut in income taxes -- and finally by Evans.

The final product guarantees $200 million a year for modernization.
About half would come from the existing capital budget, which the mayor
would be required to maintain at $100 million. The other half would come
from sales tax revenue currently dedicated to other purposes, leaving a
hole in the budget that would be filled with future surpluses, if any.

Gandhi must decide this month whether the city will have enough cash to
make the bill work for the first five years. If the answer is no,
Williams has promised to find new revenue or spending cuts in the budget
he is preparing, his spokesman Vince Morris said.

The bill also would address one of the primary concerns about giving
school officials significant new funds by creating a nine-member
advisory board to oversee spending and raise alarms if the cash is
wasted or misspent. It also requires school officials to lay out a
strategy for efficiently spending the money by May 1.

Cropp and Patterson said the strategy must demonstrate the will to
address the politically sensitive issue of closing underused schools.
"We do not need to restore or renovate or modernize empty buildings,"
Cropp said.

In the end, Cropp said, she, Evans and Patterson did more to advance
school modernization than Fenty did. Though the bill bears Fenty's name,
he "never worked on it," Cropp said in an interview. "He threw it out
there and then went to rallies."

Fenty said he's not looking for credit.

"Here's my quote: The bill is consistent with the priorities of the
people of the District of Columbia. People find the schools a complete
embarrassment," he said.

"When you throw that out there and people have a chance to rally around
it, the voice of the public -- which is what we're supposed to pay
attention to -- was extremely passionate."

C 2006 The Washington Post Company


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<DIV>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=3D"Times =
New Roman"=20
size=3D3><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 18pt"><STRONG>Kudos to these parents=20
-&nbsp;</STRONG><SPAN class=3D145182815-04032006><FONT face=3DArial=20
size=3D2>&nbsp;<STRONG><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D5>Let's Do=20
It!!!!</FONT></STRONG>&nbsp;</FONT></SPAN><STRONG>!</STRONG></SPAN></FONT=
></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT=20
face=3D"Times New Roman"><B><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 18pt"></SPAN></B></FONT>&nbsp;</P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT=20
face=3D"Times New Roman"><B><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 18pt">Record =
Funding Boost=20
Likely for Schools</SPAN></B><BR><FONT size=3D3>Costly Stadium Plan =
Provoked=20
Advocates to Fight for Systemwide Renovations</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman">By =
Lori=20
</FONT><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman"><st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:City=20
w:st=3D"on">Montgomery</st1:City><BR><st1:State=20
w:st=3D"on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place> Post Staff =
Writer<BR>Sunday,=20
February 5, 2006; C05</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The D.C. Council is expected =
to approve=20
the biggest school funding increase in city history after months of =
pressure=20
from more than 1,000 parents, educators and activists galvanized by the =
decision=20
to pay millions for a new ballpark.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Long rebuffed in their pleas =
for more=20
money for decrepit public schools, frustrated parents said they were =
outraged=20
when the mayor and council agreed in 2004 to spend more than $500 =
million on a=20
baseball stadium, a price tag that since has risen. Over the past year, =
groups=20
across the city banded together to form a single, powerful lobby focused =
on=20
forcing city leaders to do for schoolchildren what they agreed to do for =
Major=20
League Baseball.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The campaign appears to have =
worked. On=20
Tuesday, the council is expected to give preliminary approval to a bill =
that=20
would devote an additional $100 million a year -- $1 billion over the =
next=20
decade -- to school modernization, enough to complete a systemwide =
overhaul.=20
Although debate continues over how to fund the measure, council Chairman =
Linda=20
W. Cropp (D) said passage is all but assured, and a spokesman said the =
mayor=20
intends to sign it.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>In addition to a large and =
disciplined=20
grass-roots movement, a variety of other factors helped propel schools =
to the=20
top of the council agenda, activists and political analysts said. Polls =
show=20
that education is by far the most important issue to D.C. voters at a =
time when=20
seven of the 13 council members are running for reelection or higher =
office.=20
Three are competing to replace retiring Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), =
including=20
Cropp and the bill's author, Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The city also has a huge =
budget surplus=20
and fresh confidence in Clifford B. Janey, the superintendent of the =
school=20
system, which has had an abysmal record on renovations.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>"It was a nice harmonic =
convergence,"=20
said Matt Wuerker, a <st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Woodley</st1:PlaceName>=20
<st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Park</st1:PlaceType> activist whose son =
attends=20
<st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:PlaceName =
w:st=3D"on">Woodrow</st1:PlaceName>=20
<st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Wilson</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName =
w:st=3D"on">Senior=20
High School</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. "Oddly enough, it was the =
baseball=20
stadium that gave us a new element of leverage. . . . Baseball, =
ironically,=20
created the political opening for schools."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The contrast was stark. After =
years of=20
deferred maintenance, many of the city's 147 schools are in appalling =
condition.=20
The buildings -- 73 years old, on average -- have leaking roofs, =
stopped-up=20
bathrooms, ancient lighting and air-handling systems that leave =
classrooms=20
freezing or stifling.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>In 2000, the school board =
adopted a $3.5=20
billion plan to renovate every school by 2020. But annual council =
funding never=20
hit the $300 million goal, and the plan fell apart after several =
projects came=20
in over budget. By the time baseball came on the scene, the mayor was =
proposing=20
to drop the school renovation budget to just under $100 =
million.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>At the same time, Williams =
proposed=20
building a state-of-the-art baseball stadium with luxury skyboxes and =
views of=20
the Capitol. A new tax on business would be used as collateral for =
revenue=20
bonds. The deal brought the former Montreal Expos to <st1:State=20
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State> =
but quickly=20
became a political lightning rod, viewed by some as potent evidence that =
city=20
leaders cater to the privileged. The city is working to control costs of =
the=20
stadium project, now estimated at $667 million.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>In September 2004, voters =
booted three=20
council members who supported the stadium deal. After much public =
hand-wringing,=20
the council approved it that December, days before the new members took=20
office.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Fenty, planning a run for =
mayor, voted=20
no. Afterward, stadium opponent Ed Lazere remembers telling him that the =
deal=20
easily could provoke a backlash.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>"I said, 'The progressive =
response to=20
this ought to be, if you can issue bonds for a baseball stadium, you can =
issue=20
bonds for schools. So let's do a big bond for schools,' " recalled =
Lazere,=20
executive director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Others made the same =
connection. Although=20
school modernization already was the focus of hearings chaired by =
council member=20
Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), "the stadium thing, in my mind, really =
helped propel=20
things," said Marc Borbely, a former <st1:place =
w:st=3D"on"><st1:PlaceName=20
w:st=3D"on">Eastern</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">High=20
School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> teacher and a leader of the schools=20
coalition. "It was something we used to generate outrage."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>In April, at the Washington =
Nationals'=20
home opener, school advocates staged one of their first protests. More =
than 400=20
people handed out peanuts to arriving fans under signs reading, =
"Millions for=20
the stadium, Peanuts for the kids."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Five days later, Fenty =
announced his=20
schools bill, a $1 billion bond issuance that would have been secured by =
D.C.=20
Lottery revenue. Cropp sent it to two committees: Patterson's education=20
committee and the finance and revenue panel chaired by Jack Evans =
(D-Ward=20
2).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The bill quickly was =
dismissed as=20
unrealistic. "There's no money available," said Evans, who was =
considering a=20
mayoral run at the time. Cropp responded with what she called a =
"fiscally=20
prudent" plan to raise $150 million for schools. Chief Financial Officer =
Natwar=20
M. Gandhi said Fenty's bill would generate no more than $400 million =
while=20
wrecking the city's bond rating.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>But in late spring, Fenty, =
Evans and=20
others started polling. When the results came in, education popped off =
the page.=20
In Fenty's poll, it exceeded other issues, including crime and =
affordable=20
housing, as the top concern by more than 40 percentage =
points.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Ron Lester, who did a poll =
for=20
then-mayoral contender and current at-large council candidate A. Scott =
Bolden=20
(D), said even affluent white voters ranked public schools as their top=20
priority, a "sea change" over past surveys.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>"People are more stressed =
financially.=20
With the recent housing boom, they have to pay these high mortgages," =
Lester=20
said. "Two-income couples each earning $100,000 are stressed because of =
the=20
private-school bill. They would like to send their kids to public =
schools, but=20
they really don't trust them. So education becomes a quality-of-life=20
issue."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Activists latched onto the =
Fenty bill,=20
packing the council chamber for a July public hearing. "People said it =
was=20
crazy, unworkable," Borbely said, but it was something concrete to fight =
for.=20
"Without that bill, we would be a bunch of advocates screaming in the =
wind," he=20
said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>On July 14, the finance =
committee voted.=20
Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was absent. Patterson voted yes. =
And, in=20
a bizarre piece of political theater, Evans, mayoral candidate Vincent =
B. Orange=20
Sr. (D-Ward 5) and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) criticized the bill, then =
declined=20
to vote yea or nay. They registered "present," and the bill survived on =
a vote=20
of 1 to 0.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>In a recent interview, Evans =
said he=20
couldn't vote for the measure because it "didn't make any =
sense."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>"I tried to explain to =
everyone why it=20
didn't make any sense, but nobody would listen. So, I just said, 'Okay, =
we'll=20
just pass the bill,' " Evans said. "Maybe we should have voted it down, =
but I=20
thought the end result couldn't have been better."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The end result is a measure =
that has been=20
completely reworked, first by Patterson -- who proposed funding it with =
new=20
taxes and by delaying a planned cut in income taxes -- and finally by=20
Evans.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The final product guarantees =
$200 million=20
a year for modernization. About half would come from the existing =
capital=20
budget, which the mayor would be required to maintain at $100 million. =
The other=20
half would come from sales tax revenue currently dedicated to other =
purposes,=20
leaving a hole in the budget that would be filled with future surpluses, =
if=20
any.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Gandhi must decide this month =
whether the=20
city will have enough cash to make the bill work for the first five =
years. If=20
the answer is no, Williams has promised to find new revenue or spending =
cuts in=20
the budget he is preparing, his spokesman Vince Morris said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>The bill also would address =
one of the=20
primary concerns about giving school officials significant new funds by =
creating=20
a nine-member advisory board to oversee spending and raise alarms if the =
cash is=20
wasted or misspent. It also requires school officials to lay out a =
strategy for=20
efficiently spending the money by May 1.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Cropp and Patterson said the =
strategy=20
must demonstrate the will to address the politically sensitive issue of =
closing=20
underused schools. "We do not need to restore or renovate or modernize =
empty=20
buildings," Cropp said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>In the end, Cropp said, she, =
Evans and=20
Patterson did more to advance school modernization than Fenty did. =
Though the=20
bill bears Fenty's name, he "never worked on it," Cropp said in an =
interview.=20
"He threw it out there and then went to rallies."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Fenty said he's not looking =
for=20
credit.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>"Here's my quote: The bill is =
consistent=20
with the priorities of the people of the <st1:State =
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place=20
w:st=3D"on">District of Columbia</st1:place></st1:State>. People find =
the schools=20
a complete embarrassment," he said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>"When you throw that out =
there and people=20
have a chance to rally around it, the voice of the public -- which is =
what we're=20
supposed to pay attention to -- was extremely passionate."</FONT></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"=20
align=3Dcenter><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" =
size=3D3>&copy;&nbsp;2006&nbsp;The Washington=20
Post Company</FONT></P></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>

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