JLG vs McDuffie on public schools
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Anonymous
You do realize some of these benefited charters right… |
Anonymous
Why is "business" a bad word? |
Anonymous
McDuffie is disqualified from being considered because BOTH of his kids were/are at GDS. So not just any private school but the most exclusive, expensive school in the area. |
Anonymous
What does “affordability crisis” mean? Rent hasn’t even kept up with inflation, it’s actually cheaper to live here than 7 years ago in real terms, and immediately after COVID was cheaper in nominal terms as well. Is DC’s CPI larger than other places? Doesn’t appear so. |
Anonymous
How do you not understand that this EXACTLY the criticism of JLG being made in this thread regarding her adherence to WTU dogma? And also the people who defend McDuffie's business ties do so in the exact same way that people defend JLG's special interest relationships. They'll say "well, what's wrong with business and real estate? don't we want the city to be friendly to business interests in order to encourage economic development that leads to jobs, tax dollars, and more civic spirit?" And yes, there's cynicism in this argument but there is also truth -- I do actually want a mayor who will seek to advance economic investment in the city, and who will make the city more attractive to (gasp!) real estate developers and businesses of all size who are willing to put money into the city, hire people, and make this a good place to live. I don't like Kenyon McDuffie, but this cynical argument is actually more compelling to me than the idea that JLG will magically be better on education because she sits in the back pocket of a teachers union that I can assure you has not always worked in the best interests of my kids or my family. |
Anonymous
Business isn't the problem, it's 'business in DC' which is cronyist, developer-serving, rent-seeking, anti-consumer, lobbyist-political-industrial-complex BS. If you like Doug Jemal, you'll love McDuffie. If you like how the 'lottery contract' went you are part of the DC 'business culture.' If you love Washington Gas, remember that's where Brandon Todd went after JLG beat him in Ward 4. That's 'business' 'round here. |
Anonymous
JLG doesn't have a kid in DC publics either. Would McDuffie be a better politician if he performatively put his kids in DCPS even though is family can afford to send their kids to private? I'm not saying he'll be good on education but the idea that he'd be better on education if he just pandered to you better is silly. Also the distinction you are making here that somehow if his kids went to a different private school, that would be better? Girl, sit down. |
Anonymous
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https://capitalcommonsense.substack.com/p/im-a-dcps-parent-janeese-lewis-georges
"I'm a DCPS Parent. Here's Why Janeese Lewis George's Big Education Plan Worries Me." "The problem is that, for seemingly well-meaning but misguided reasons, Lewis George is planning to dismantle successful education reforms that have helped the District achieve more than a decade of progress on math and reading. Above all, she has said she wants to “end” IMPACT, the pay-for-performance system in place since 2009 that rewards our best teachers with large bonuses while cutting loose our worst. Lewis George has only offered a fuzzy outline of how she’d replace today’s system. But her public statements suggest we could wind up with a weaker alternative that puts less emphasis on concrete measures of student success." |
Anonymous
Yes. Some charters have separate unions but the WTU does not support charter or private schools and actively lobbies to get less funding for charters. |
Anonymous
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Here are the two main candidate's responses to the question on education in WTOP's candidate questionnaire:
McDuffie:
JLG:
TBH, there is very little daylight between them. They are both prioritizing truancy/absenteeism, but their proposals are different. JLG wants to centralize truancy enforcement in a single agency whereas McDuffie is proposing the opposite - ensuring every school has its own truancy officer and focusing on getting principals to respond sooner to absenteeism. I actually think we should do both, because truancy is both an individual problem and a system-wide problem. I am skeptical of JLG's proposal simply because my experience with DC government is that centralized agencies like that quickly become unaccountable to anyone and don't do anything (good morning Department of General Services, let me know how those maintenance requests from 2021 are coming along) but at least in theory there are advantages to centralizing truancy services because they could better track kids across the system (lining up school absences, juvenile justice engagement, and social work interventions to get a better idea of why a kid isn't in school and try to solve it). But if I had to guess which of these would result in more kids actually showing up to school, it's McDuffie's proposal. Because schools are so much more effective at actually interfacing with families. They need more resources for doing so, and it's really frustrating how anything's DC expects schools to do, but the truth is it's because they do a better job of it. The rest of this is probably just rhetoric (as in won't result in actual policy) but I find McDuffie's more substantive. He is overestimating the degree to which capital improvements to schools results in more in-bound attendance, but I support the goal of minimizing reliance on the lottery by providing quality neighborhood schools. As a lottery family who really wishes we could just send our kids to the school up the street without jeopardizing their safety and education, that resonates with me. And I appreciate that he's at least paying lip service sot addressing failures in the special ed system, though I am skeptical he'd do anything with it. But JLG doesn't even identify clear policy priorities in this way. Other than the truancy initiative, her statement on schools is very generic. And her truancy initiative is also her top response on the subject of juvenile crime, whereas McDuffie supports the curfew, as do I, and I think his statements on crime in general are a lot more responsive than JLG. He also identifies safety as one of his top three priorities as mayor. That matters to me as a parent and a resident, and one of my biggest concerns about JLG is that she will be "do nothing" on crime issues at a time when I feel like we are finally crawling out of the post-Covid crisis. I don't love either of them, but when I line them up on issues, I think I lean McDuffie. Ugh. |
Anonymous
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For the record, neither have said anything material on education.
Neither candidate has had to campaign on much of anything because until like the last two weeks, McDuffie has run the sleepiest campaign I can remember. My mind isn’t made up at all, but he barely seems interested in being mayor |
Anonymous
I'm confused as to why you think a teachers union is set up to work for the best interest of YOUR kids and family. A teachers union is in place to advocate for labor rights for educators- such as negotiating salaries, improving work environments for them, etc. Secondly, are you that narcissistic to believe that everything should always work in the favor of your kids and your family? That's not the way life works- the world doesn't revolve around you and you don't get what you want 100% of the time. This is what it means to live in a community. |
Anonymous
| Agreed with previous person. |
Anonymous
NP but that PP doesn't think that the WTU exists to serve their kids' best interests - that's their point. So people in this thread repeatedly screaming "YOU HATE TEACHERS" if anyone pushes back against the WTU's positions are very, very dumb. Teachers are entitled to a union that supports their labor rights, but they're not entitled to anyone who has other priorities being demonized because the teachers union is not their moral compass. |
Anonymous
But business in DC is also billions of dollars of investment that lead to higher tax revenues, fewer empty buildings and storefronts, and more jobs. Yes McDuffie has a cronyism and corruption problem. But I do want a mayor who is genuinely focused on bringing business into DC. All of our problems are going to get much worse if our economy tanks, and we are actually in a precarious place right now due to DOGE and inflation pressure. There are advantages to having a mayor who is viewed as friendly to business in this environment. And there are also disadvantages to having a mayor viewed as hostile to business at a time when a lot of companies are already skeptical that DC is a good investment. This is a key difference between DC and NY and one of the reasons why billing JLG as DC's Mamdani is questionable to me. Mamdani has more freedom to go after big business in NY because NY is, economically, very strong. And they are a bigger city with more economic power to begin with. NYC has annual tax revenues of over 80 billion. DC's are right around 12 billion. So when Mamdani says he's going to stand up to big business by, for instance, forcing Amazon to pay fines for letting their trucks idle in the city, he does so from a place of very real power and leverage. DC doesn't come close. Economically, we're a lot more like St. Louis or New Orleans than like NY or SF. And that makes it a lot harder to have a mayor who is openly anti-business. And frankly a little dangerous. Good luck accomplishing progressive policy positions on housing and education if, for instance, the RFK redevelopment doesn't go well. We need a mayor who will make sure the city keeps growing economically. |