Reply to JLG vs McDuffie on public schools

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Reply to "JLG vs McDuffie on public schools"

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[quote=Anonymous]Here are the two main candidate's responses to the question on education in WTOP's candidate questionnaire:

McDuffie:

[quote]My top education priorities are ending school overcrowding, reversing chronic absenteeism, and delivering on the promise of special education.

On overcrowding, I will deliver better schools in every neighborhood so students no longer have to compete in a lottery system and get bussed across the city just to access a quality education. Every child deserves a great school in their own neighborhood, and my capital investments will make that possible.

On chronic absenteeism, intervention must begin the moment a student starts missing school, not after the pattern is already entrenched. That means coordinating schools, families, social workers and community partners to address the root causes underneath missed days, including housing instability, transportation gaps and unmet health and mental health needs. I will fund dedicated attendance counselors in every school and hold principals accountable for early outreach.

On special education, every child with an IEP deserves a fully resourced, staffed and implemented program. I will hold OSSE, DCPS, and charter LEAs accountable for federal and local compliance. Audits will be regular, findings will be public, and noncompliance will carry real consequences. No family should have to fight the school system to get their child what the law already guarantees.[/quote]

JLG:

[quote]Every child should have access to a wonderful public education. Our schools should teach young people to master writing, math, social studies, and more. But we have work to do to make that the reality for all students.

D.C. was just ranked first in the nation in academic growth in both math and reading by the Education Scorecard. We will build on what is already working and improve what isn’t, including helping those still falling behind.

D.C.’s high rates of truancy and chronic absenteeism are unacceptable. I will simplify the truancy system by unifying it and tasking one agency with the responsibility of navigating truancy referrals. I will expand after-school programming in all eight Wards because I know firsthand how critical safe, enriching programming is for young people.

I will also ensure that students have the support they need to stay in school, including special education services, school-based mental health, and sufficiently staffed schools. I know quality education starts with people, so it’s important to expand the workforce at schools to ensure there are enough professionals to meet the needs of all students.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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