The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today will review a bill introduced by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., that clears the way for Mayor Adrian Fenty to take over the city’s 142 public schools.
Fenty’s school takeover plan, approved April 19 by the D.C. Council, would establish the city’s public schools as a Cabinet-level agency under mayoral budget authority. It also would strip the Board of Education of its policy-making powers. Congress must approve the bill before Fenty can fully take over because it would amend the District’s Home Rule Act. Norton introduced the bill Monday.
