Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee will ask city officials for an extra $81 million to help her right the city schools, top education sources told The Examiner. The sources said they will announce that the schools need the extra money to get atop of a special education system in crisis. When he was lobbying to take over the $1 billion school system, Fenty said he wouldn’t need any more money because the problems in the schools stemmed from mismanagement, not lack of funds.
District Council Chair Vincent C. Gray has said privately that he’ll call hearings if Fenty reneged on his promise to stay within the budget.
But the request for extra has drawn provisional support from some District Council members, including Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6.
“I stated from the dais that he would need more,” he told The Examiner. “And I knew he would need more.”
