It’s Tuesday, when our city council meets to make laws, rather than make trouble for themselves by accepting questionable campaign contributions.
Let’s take a break and legislate!
Cynics among us might be biding their time in hopes that federal investigations into the campaigns of Mayor Vince Gray and Chairman Kwame Brown bear fruit. Be that way. Regardless of how you see Chairman Brown, his bill that would raise the bar for D.C. high school students is a strong one and deserves to be passed.
The legislation’s title is long-winded — “Raising the Expectations for Education Outcomes Omnibus Act of 2012” — but it makes an important point. Too many kids in too many families in D.C.’s poor neighborhoods set their sights on merely graduating from high school. Brown points out, correctly, that a high school degree will not get you much of a job in the high-tech market in and around the capital.
Brown makes the point that the District’s high school graduation rate of 43 percent is the lowest in the nation. To raise the rate, Brown’s bill would create “an early warning support system,” designed to identify students who show signs of slipping away from the schools at an early age, years before they actually drop out. All good — and necessary.
The chairman’s legislation also adds incentives for great teachers who are willing to come to D.C.’s toughest neighborhoods. He would offer a $10,000 bonus, assistance in buying a home, tuition assistance and income tax credits. Again — all good.
I’m not as enamored of the “community schools” component of Brown’s bill. It would create schools that offered health care, job training, adult education and more. Why does it take an act of the city council to accomplish what seems to be a natural expansion of the school’s mission?
But the most radical — and I believe crucial — part of the chairman’s bill is also the most controversial. Brown would require D.C. high school students to take college entrance tests, such as the SAT or ACT, and apply to at least one college. This section of the bill received howls from some quarters. How can Brown ask students to apply to college if nearly half don’t graduate from high school?
Answer: it’s time to raise expectations. Aim high. Set goals.
I know that one goal of the mayoral takeover of the D.C. schools was to keep the council out of education policy, but Brown’s bill is a worthy exception.
On another note, I want to correct the record on Friday’s column. Pedro Ribeiro, Mayor Gray’s spokesman, called to say that while it’s accurate, as I wrote, that federal investigations of political contributions to council members by businessman Jeffrey Thompson started with questions about Gray’s campaign, my contention that former Mayor Adrian Fenty didn’t take Thompsons’ money was wrong. Agreed. And Fenty’s administration gave contracts to Thompson, contrary to what I wrote.
But — I stand by my point that Thompson is part of the network of veteran lobbyists and contractors who wanted Fenty out and Gray in.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
