More D.C.: Does Fenty's Lack of Education Experience Matter

Sounds like yesterday's D.C. Council hearing, which offered community members an opportunity to tell the council what they think of Mayor Fenty's plans to take over the D.C. Public Schools, turned into a bit of a circus--albeit a tragic one, considering how our city's schools are performing. I understand passions are high on both sides of the issue, but this really doesn't sound like the best way for the activists opposing the plan to persuade the council to their side. The Post's David Nakamura hosts an online chat here.

I want to say a word about the complaints that Fenty doesn't have an education background or that his plan doesn't put forward specific proposals to improve the schools. Fenty is not proposing to actually make educational decisions about the schools' operation himself: He's proposing to hire a chancellor who will have the authority to make those decisions but will be accountable to Fenty for the results. It's also proper and smart for Fenty's folks to keep specific education proposals out of the current governance debate. This is not supposed to be a discussion about specific measures but a discussion about what kind of structural arrangements, what kind of distributions of power and lines of accountability, are the most likely to create an environment that leads to good decisions, the ability to carry them out, and public accountability for results. The question is whether or not Mayor Fenty's proposal will create clearer public accountability for results, give the chancellor and other key education leaders the autonomy to make and carry out decisions, and provide the political clout to carry through with contentious and difficult changes that may need to be made to improve DCPS. Specific proposals would be an unecessary and inappropriate distraction from those issues.