Last night the DC Coalition for Public Schools and Communities held a candidate forum focused on recent challenges facing the city’s education system. First, incumbent Council chair Phil Mendelson faced off against Ed Lazere, the long-time leader of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Then, At-Large incumbent Anita Bonds shared the stage with her two challengers: real estate developer Marcus Goodwin and organizer Jeremiah Lowery. Both panels were moderated by Sarah Stodder, a freelance journalist working on local education issues.
Candidates were first asked to evaluate the state of our schools based on recent scandals. Mr. Mendelson expressed disappointment in the results of mayoral control saying, “the schools are better than they were 10 years ago, but are no where close to as good as we were promised”. Mr. Lazere decried the city’s heavy reliance on metrics like graduation rates and test scores, which he said may create “an unnatural pressure on school leaders to make the numbers look better”. Both candidates for Council chair expressed support for an independent research entity housed within the Office of the DC Auditor.
On the issue of teacher turnover, all candidates agreed it was a problem, but offered different solutions: Mr. Lazere blamed inadequate funding, Mr. Mendelson called for more oversight and study by the Council, Ms. Bonds said there was too much focus on tests, Mr. Lowery called for the return to a school board, and Mr. Goodwin called for more workforce housing. Several candidates also called for greater attention to principal turnover as a contributor to instability in school culture.
Candidates diverged on how to best support struggling neighborhood schools amidst competition with charter schools. Mr. Mendelson advocated for more budget transparency, remarking that DCPS obfuscates too much around its exact spending. Mr. Lazere called for greater collaboration between the two sectors, but lamented that many families find it hard to stay committed to their local schools when many charter schools are also available nearby. Ms. Bonds and Mr. Goodwin both said neighborhood schools need additional investments, but only Mr. Lowery advocated for a limit on charter school expansion.
Those interested in watching the full 3-hour live stream of the event can find the link here, as well as pictures and Tweets from attendees at #AllDCKids and #DCision18. Early voting for the Democratic primary runs from June 4th through June 15th at sites throughout the city, and primary day is Tuesday, June 19th.
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