A Comprehensive Focus on Children

My education platform focuses on improving the lives of the District’s children by putting the responsibility of education in the hands of the community and creating collaborative programs between the DC public schools, other government agencies, community leaders and the private sector. Children are our most precious resource and wisest investment for the District. Government must have a role in ensuring that our children are safe, happy, educated, and healthy. If government does only one thing right, it should be to care of our children. As the Nation’s capital, we should be able to develop great community and national leaders. Yes, we have good schools good teachers and committed parents, but we do not have a comprehensive approach that increases a child's ability to succeed in and outside of the classroom. We must bring all partners and resources to focus on caring for our children- both during the school day and outside of the classroom.

The grim statistics emphasize the need to focus on the District’s children:

• 2 out of 5 DC children live in poverty.
• 87% of DC Public School children are eligible for free and reduced lunch.
• 1 out of 10 DC children die before the age of 3.
• 40% of DC's children do not graduate from high school.
• 1 out of 4 of DC’s young men spend time in prison.

As Mayor, I will focus on children by creating and/or expanding programs that will benefit our children. With our schools as the hub for focusing on children, we will be able to touch even the most vulnerable children in the city. Educational reform will have to occur school-by-school and parents must be empowered to participate in decision making. However, for real, long-term reform to occur, our focus on children cannot end with education reform, but must encompass the emotional and physical needs of each child. By focusing health, safety and other government programs on children, the District can provide a comprehensive program aimed at improving our children's lives.

A Report Card on the First 100 Days illustrates my commitment to a comprehensive approach to our children and public education in the District. This report card details what I intend to accomplish within the first 100 days of my administration to improve the quality of public education in the District and provide better opportunities for our children.

The financial investment the government makes will not solve all of our problems that exist for our children today. Parents, businesses and community and religious organizations will be called upon to realize our hopes for our children and improve upon the reality we see in the statistics today. We must make Washington, DC a city where children can prosper and become the leaders of the future.

A Report Card on the First 100 Days

Education

• Support school-based management, Local School Restructuring Teams
• Promote competition through public school choice
• Invest in cost effective modern infrastructure and business practices
• Develop partnerships with businesses, not-for-profit organizations, community groups, and the government to create innovate approaches to education reform.

Health
UDC
Safety
Inter-qov.
Other

Public Education and the Focus on Children
Principles and Goals of the Williams Administration

The principles dictated in the Department of Education’s Goals 2000 are the basic principles of my education platform. Many of these principles can become a norm for our city with the determined leadership of the Williams Administration. They are principles that require the support of communities as well as the the DC Public Schools and public charter schools.

Principles for 1999-2004

1. Ready to Learn: All DC children will start school ready to learn.
2. Focus on Reading: All DC students will read at grade level.
3. School Completion: The High School graduation rate will increase to at least 90%
4. Student Achievement and Citizenship: All DC students will leave each grade having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography, and every school in the District will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our Nation’s modern economy.
5. Teacher Education and Professional Development: The District's teaching force will have access to programs for the continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all American students for the next century.
6. Mathematics and Science: The District's students will be first in the region in mathematics and science achievement.
7. Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning: Every DC adult will be literate and possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and help to educate their children.
8. Safe, Disciplined, and Alcohol-and Drug-Free Schools: Every school in the District will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
9. Parental Participation: Every DC school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

Goals

My education platform can be implemented through the Office of the Mayor, the DC Public Schools and public charter schools, all related agencies in the government, business and community organizations, and by the will of committed parents. I have three priority goals for public education.

EDUCATION GOAL ONE
EMPOWER PARENTS AND COMMUNITIES THROUGH SCHOOL BASED MANAGEMENT AND CHOICE

Empower the District's neighborhoods and parents through school-based management

• Revisit the District of Columbia Schools Administrative Reform and Community Accountability Act of 1998. This act establishes Local School Commissions (LSC) in all public schools, expanding the role of parents, teachers, principals, and the local school community in the governance of the local school. It requires each school to develop and implement a four-year school improvement plan to improve educational quality. It establishes a monitoring role for the Superintendent, lump sum allocations to each school, and mandates that the principal, in consultation with the LSC and the school's financial officer, to develop a spending plan. (The first phase of this approach has been achieved through the development of a school-by-school staffing model.)
• Research similar urban school districts such as the Chicago Public Schools, whose governance structure was established through the Illinois State Legislature's Chicago School Reform Act. The Chicago model allows each LSC to create and approve a school implementation plan, detailing how the school will improve test scores as well as cut truancy and drop-out rates.
  Each LSC has to power to appoint principals and to terminate principals' contracts, to help create and approve schools' budget using a lump-sum allocation from Board.

Propose legislation that would empower parents and communities by strengthening the role of the Local School Commissions. The LSC would become a pivotal arena where school based curriculum and budgeting would occur, placing decision making and accountability to the lowest level.

EDUCATION GOAL TWO
Promote and support parental public school choice.

Promote competition through public school choice. (e.g., schools within schools and public charter schools.) The 1995 District of Columbia School Reform Act provided parents with the ability to make decisions about what type of education their child receives. By giving parents the “choice,” the accountability of all public schools (whether a DC Public School or a DC Public Charter School) will be left to the parent. The School Reform Act not only allows the creation of new charter schools, but also allows any DC Public School to convert to charter status with 2/3rds vote from teachers and parents at the school. District residents should take advantage of the law provided and maximize competition in public education.

Define accountability standards by connecting parental choice with student funding . With the implementation of the “District of Columbia Public Schools Administrative Reform and Community Accountability Act of 1998,” parents will be directing funds, based on a per-pupil foundational level, to the school of their choice. This is the most important accountability mechanism of public school choice. It is the “competition” of dollars, based on the satisfaction of parents, that will allow a charter school to have the funds necessary to operate. Under the formula, the DC Public Schools will have to satisfy the parents with the educational services they provide because if a parent chooses to remove their child from the school system, then the funding associated with that student should follow.

EDUCATION GOAL THREE
Invest in cost effective modern infrastructure and business practices.

Continue the fiscal integrity of the District to ensure the availability of capital funding that will repair and rebuild the District’s public schools.

Mandate that the DC Public Schools submit a Long-Range Master Facilities Plan that defines cost effective strategies for repairing/replacing the District's school buildings.

Ensure that the District and its public schools are wired for tomorrow’s technology.

Through the practice of school-based management, propose drastic reforms to DCPS’ central administration, decentralization of programs, and create performance accountability structures.

Set business standards for DCPS by requiring timely, up-to-date information to principals and parents. Information, whether programmatic or financial, should be illustrated in a professional and accurate manner. Apply fundamental business principles and professionalism to job descriptions and performance evaluations.

Increase the scrutiny of public charter school performance by auditing the level of student achievement, financial reporting, and operational efficiencies through the chartering authorities.

EDUCATION GOAL FOUR

Construct a 21ST Century Technology Learning Center that would be available to any DC Public School student and would incorporate the latest instructional technology methods. The Technology Learning Center would be developed through partnerships with the DC Public Schools, the business community, not-for-profit organizations, and community groups. The center will include the latest technologies in each classroom, modern science and technology labs, distance learning facilities, and an auditorium with multi-media room capability.

Reach out to the business community to increases the programs that involve human contact with children.

• Create modest tax incentives for businesses to donate time, money, and employees to enhance existing literacy and mentoring programs. Tax incentives can also be directed to businesses who can “adopt” a public school. The idea of “adopting a school” can provide a relationship in which businesses donate in-kind services or provide human support for existing programs, such as the DC Public Schools’ Reads First literacy program.
• Have not-for-profit organizations develop professional development programs for teachers through collaborative partnerships with businesses that build on the efforts of teacher quality. There should be the development of strong, practical mentoring programs that can help teachers seek certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.