Some District residents are baffled by the budget-cutting priorities of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration. In recent meetings, they specifically were dismayed that the Department of Parks and Recreation seems to have made dogs its prime interest — above day care centers, maintenance of facilities, retaining sufficient program personnel and restoring athletic fields.

“The recreation of dogs is more important than the education of our children,” one resident said last week at a hearing of the D.C. Council’s Committee on Recreation and Libraries.