Norton's Bill to Give DC Full Control Over Charter School Board On Its Way to House Floor (7/16/08)

Norton's Bill to Give D.C. Full Control Over Charter School Board On Its Way to the House Floor

July 16, 2008

Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's "Public Charter Schools Home Rule Act of 2008" was passed by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. H.R. 6322 gives the D.C. government full jurisdiction and complete oversight of the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, which currently is comprised of seven members who are appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, but only from a list of recommendations provided by the U.S. Secretary of Education, without regard to District residents. Norton opposed an amendment proposed by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), which would have placed a five-year sunset on the bill.

Norton said the District of Columbia's charter schools have been "phenomenally successful, serving as a model for school districts around the country." She reminded the committee that as part of an aggressive overhaul of the city's public schools, Mayor Fenty last year abolished the city's charter school board in favor of the board established by Congress because of the achievements of the federally established board.

While school board and council members, parents, and education advocates, helped develop the Public Charter School Board on a Home Rule basis, the city was operating under a control board and that crisis led Congress to restrict the appointment process. "Allowing individuals who do not even live in the District authority to oversee the city's charter school children is an unacceptable anti-Home Rule anomaly," Norton said. The bill is expected to go to the Floor of the House next week.