Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be a DC Council hearing on October 26 to discuss ending mayoral control of DCPS. Please sign up to testify against ending Mayoral control. There is no rational for ending Mayoral control other than giving more power to outside organizations over DCPS. Nobody has made the case for why the current management of DCPS needs to be change. Indeed - every single other public work is administered directly by the Mayor.

Mayoral control is DIRECTLY related to school reopening after covid. Without mayoral control, I do not believe DCPS would have opened at all last year, similar to SFUSD.

More information:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chicago-schools-lori-lightfoot-mayoral-control/2021/02/18/ff452110-7158-11eb-93be-c10813e358a2_story.html

This is old research, but it explains the issue of mayoral control of schools, and why it is beneficial:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/news/2013/03/22/57723/top-5-things-to-know-about-mayoral-control-of-schools/

Washington Post on the current efforts in DC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/undermining-mayoral-control-of-dc-schools-wont-make-things-better-for-students/2021/03/07/0fcb87d4-7bbf-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html

You can sign up to submit written or oral testimony here: Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUODdcp7a-VInaR5aSlR4_wEqL46YZ4bj65-LjKWTXMowpZQ/viewform?fbzx=-6710434939403137657

First of all - it's "RATIONALE" not "rational"

secondly -- Mayoral control has been an unmitigated failure. Public schools have become politically driven rather than focused on better student outcomes across the board. Thanks for the heads up so I can testify to end Mayoral control.

You'll need to go into a bit more detail about A) what exactly you mean by "politically driven" and B) why ending mayoral control -- and handing over control to an elected school board -- would make it less politically driven? Or do you just mean something like making the Chancellor only dismissable for cause?

I don't "need" to do anything

Educators should drive decision making on policy. Educators should run schools and school boards are far more accountable to citizens than a mayoral appointees. Political appointees cut out meaningful and necessary voices in the process with little real accountability to school communities. I guess there's accountability if you game the boundary system for your own kid, but there's no accountability for failing to deliver better outcomes for students, however desperate the effort to quantify any measurable "success" through questionable metrics (spoiler alert -- rich kids test better than poor kids).

no no nonono no no no. educators are not experts in education policy. sorry, no. i say this as a person who is a former teacher with a degree in education who now works with experts in ed policy and ed research.

Yeah, it's an odd article of faith among teachers -- most of whom have less experience with public policy or management than your average adult -- that "educators" are the only people qualified to make any decisions about schools, from budgeting to facilities planning to HR.

Of course, because they spend their lives among children, teachers are some of the least qualified folks to make these decisions. I'd way rather have decisions about policy made by someone who studied and works in the field of POLICY than someone who spends their day teaching multiplication tables. I'd rather have decisions about accounting and finance made by an accountant than someone who teaches about primary colors all day. Call me crazy.

It's also a conflict of interest for teachers to serve on a board to make these decisions that affect their terms of employment.

Anonymous wrote:Bc I mean just saying the word "independent" doesn't make it so.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t be surprised if these half-baked bills didn’t even consider that.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?

Can someone explain this one to me -- OSSE would become "independent'. What does that mean for school functioning? Are there similar DC agencies that people can point to that are similarly structured? Who appoints the head of OSSE?

there are independent agencies that generally serve an oversight/audit function, like the IG. independent generally means that the head can only be removed by the mayor “for cause” and there may be other mechanisms like independent budgets so they don’t have to rely on appropriations or disbursals from the mayor.

problem is that OSSE does a lot more than audit - they also oversee testing standards, ECE, federal grants, special ed/IDEA and compliance (all the hearing officers). a LOT of authority taken away from Mayor.

Thank you so much for taking time to explain. I do appreciate it. I'm trying to understand this in more detail as a policy nerd.

Is it useful to have this independent agency not beholden to voters in any way, then? How would have having these issues under an independent board change school functioning?

Also it's not clear who would appoint the head of OSSE in the first place; how do other independent agencies do that?

Remember when the mayor used to appoint the AG? Now they are elected. I think it’s along the same lines

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?

Can someone explain this one to me -- OSSE would become "independent'. What does that mean for school functioning? Are there similar DC agencies that people can point to that are similarly structured? Who appoints the head of OSSE?

there are independent agencies that generally serve an oversight/audit function, like the IG. independent generally means that the head can only be removed by the mayor “for cause” and there may be other mechanisms like independent budgets so they don’t have to rely on appropriations or disbursals from the mayor.

problem is that OSSE does a lot more than audit - they also oversee testing standards, ECE, federal grants, special ed/IDEA and compliance (all the hearing officers). a LOT of authority taken away from Mayor.

Thank you so much for taking time to explain. I do appreciate it. I'm trying to understand this in more detail as a policy nerd.

Is it useful to have this independent agency not beholden to voters in any way, then? How would have having these issues under an independent board change school functioning?

Also it's not clear who would appoint the head of OSSE in the first place; how do other independent agencies do that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?

Can someone explain this one to me -- OSSE would become "independent'. What does that mean for school functioning? Are there similar DC agencies that people can point to that are similarly structured? Who appoints the head of OSSE?

there are independent agencies that generally serve an oversight/audit function, like the IG. independent generally means that the head can only be removed by the mayor “for cause” and there may be other mechanisms like independent budgets so they don’t have to rely on appropriations or disbursals from the mayor.

problem is that OSSE does a lot more than audit - they also oversee testing standards, ECE, federal grants, special ed/IDEA and compliance (all the hearing officers). a LOT of authority taken away from Mayor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?

Can someone explain this one to me -- OSSE would become "independent'. What does that mean for school functioning? Are there similar DC agencies that people can point to that are similarly structured? Who appoints the head of OSSE?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?

Can someone explain this one to me -- OSSE would become "independent'. What does that mean for school functioning? Are there similar DC agencies that people can point to that are similarly structured? Who appoints the head of OSSE?

Bowser appoints the head of osse currently.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?

Can someone explain this one to me -- OSSE would become "independent'. What does that mean for school functioning? Are there similar DC agencies that people can point to that are similarly structured? Who appoints the head of OSSE?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably what would be more helpful than examine what Austermuhle or Yglesias say what the bills say is to look at the bills:


Here's one that Austermuhle cites:

https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0101

Under this bill, what would OSSE be under?