RAY: SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR RHEE’S ABILITY TO MANAGE MUST BE QUESTIONED
Public Education Reform Must Be Public – DC Council Must Demand Transparency
Washington, DC – Today, Clark Ray, candidate for DC Council, At-Large, denounced testimony by Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee that the contract with the teachers’ union she recently announced at a press conference remains unfunded, and that she still does not know how the city will pay for it:
“Chancellor Rhee’s refusal to embrace real transparency has now put the entire public school system in danger. Her demands of secrecy―viewing transparency as an obstacle, rather than as a necessity―have left the city with an unfunded contract and a shortfall of over $20 million, and have left the process of teacher-compensation reform at a standstill. This mismanagement can’t continue.”
When questioned, Chancellor Rhee acknowledged she intentionally excluded the representative of the city’s Chief Financial Officer (CTO) from her senior staff meetings, then purposefully side-stepped the legally-required certification process before announcing the deal. Chancellor Rhee claimed she evaded the required CFO certification because she feared the media might learn details of the deal before she could announce them at a press conference. When confronted about this mismanagement, Rhee’s answer was, “I don’t manage the budget.”
Ray responded, “That Chancellor Rhee has not managed the budget is evident. It is unconscionable that the Schools Chancellor would intentionally exclude the CFO’s office and ignore the budget requirements, then side step the legally-required financial certification process, all because she wanted a good press conference. School reform is not in need of better public relations; it is in need of more open and transparent management.”
Ray continued, “As a result of Chancellor Rhee’s insistence on good press over meaningful transparency, the CFO says he cannot certify the contract, and the Council cannot address it. The Chancellor has announced a deal without any idea how it will be funded. This is a failure of leadership. Our public school children deserve better.”
“Unlike my opponent, I have always supported transparent public school reform, and I applaud the recent progress our public school children are making,” Ray noted. “We should credit Chancellor Rhee moving reform. But we cannot simultaneously rebuild our public schools and ruin trust in the public school system. Public education reform must be public.”
Ray added, “We all know that the Council will only get the transparency it demands. Yet it has demanded very little. When I am on the Council, I will make oversight of school reform a top priority, not an occasional nuisance. I will demand regular reports, not empty rhetoric, from the Schools Chancellor, and I will meet regularly with public school administrators, teachers, and parents. Unlike those who seem content with the Chancellor’s half-answers and blame-shifting, I will be demand full disclosure. Our children deserve no less.”
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