Education and Today's DC Special Election

Education issues are always a battleground in DC politics, especially in the wake of Michelle Rhee's reforms. While many have lamented the sad state of the DC schools, they certainly have been at the front lines of the reform debate. SEED charter school was positively profiled in Waiting for Superman (check out right hand side of the page linked). John Philip Sousa middle school was taken to task in the film, but their students took that as a teachable moment. The KIPP network of charter schools in DC remains a national network with great market penetration in DC. Most conspicuous, of course, is Michelle Rhee, the former superintendent of schools who is now spearheading change with a nonprofit of her own. What do the DC candidates say about education and what are their qualifications?

View snapshots of their educational platforms after the jump:

• Vincent Orange, the democrat who many argue is the favorite at present, has experience on the council as a former Ward 5 Councilperson. He claims some credit for the establishment of McKinley Science and Tech. He strongly advocates strong math standards in 3rd and 8th grade. He is not arguing for a major divergence from the current path of reform. You can read his education platorm here.
• Patrick Mara, the Republican candidate, has some direct experience in the educational trenches. He has volunteered and mentored for the recently deceased Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund (full disclosure, I did some work for them in the past). He clearly lays out some positions. He supports the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally funded voucher program. He supports the DC College Tuition Assistance Grant, a program that helps DC students to pay affordable in-state rates for colleges outside of DC. Mara appears to be very pro school choice in his education platform.
• Sekou Biddle, the Democratic candidate who is the interim Councilperson at Large, has eight years working as a teacher and is quick to point out his direct experience as an educator. He has been Director of Community Outreach for KIPP DC and he has trained teachers for Teach For America. Clearly, that reveals where his alliances and interests are oriented in the current reforms. For those who are looking for young change agents in education, Biddle is a credible candidate who wants to make truancy and technical education two of his key platform issues. (full disclosure: I have done some volunteer work for Biddle in an effort to learn about campaigning, encourage voter turnout, and gain direct experience advocating for educational issues. That said, I am not fully comfortable with his KIPP and TFA connections).
• Joshua Lopez stresses parent involvement in his educational platform (click on issues, then education on the link). He offers unequivocal support for the IMPACT teacher assessment plans begun under Michelle Rhee and continued by current DC school head Kaya Henderson. For those who yearn for a return to Fenty, he's very much on board with the Fenty reforms. He's even using the same colors for his signs, and he's a former Fenty campaigner who served as his Latino Liason in 2005 and his Ward 4 coordinator in 2010. I don't think that he blindly endorses all of Fenty's policies, but I believe that those who are dissatisfied with Gray and want to express support for Fenty's legacy may find much to like in Lopez.
• Robert Weaver supports teachers. His education platform is almost completely about his desire to see better teachers in DC schools. This is a noble and worthy goal. I'd like to know more about how he would like to see these teachers brought to DC schools and how he would like to seem them assessed. Does he like IMPACT? Does he want us to pay higher salaries to our teachers? Would he focus on improving teacher conditions and training to support teachers? He seems articulate and passionate about education issues, but I would want to have more direct dialog with him to better flesh out the how to his noble goals. He has done some student mentoring, and he was voted best ANC (Advisory Neighborhhod Commissioner) by the Washington City Paper when he was serving in Adams Morgan. I would imagine that he has a lot of grassroots support, especially in the Adams Morgan area. I'm not sure how Adams Morgan ANC translates into direct knowledge with DCPS and charter school issues.
• There are other quality candidates in the race, and I encourage anyone passing through here to argue for why I should have included them and what their positions are. I'm limiting my analysis on education to the candidates that I feel are most likely to finish first through fifth when the returns are announce. PLEASE VOTE!!! Low turnout is the biggest enemy in today's election. In November 2012, we will be voting again on who should occupy this seat. Let's send a clear message that this seat matters!

Stay tuned for more information on DC schools and issues. As always, I'm guided by comments and what's going on in my life as to what I write about next. I'm currently working on a future post highlighting the need for greater transparency in DC SAT/ACT scores.