September 29, 2003

On the day after the 2003 Mayors' Education Summit in Washington, D.C., District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced he was developing a proposal to strip the local Board of Education of most of its power and take direct control of the schools. Williams attended and spoke at the Summit.

During an interview about the announcement, Williams stated that schools ought to be under the mayor and the council. "I am ultimately accountable for what happens to the students," he said. He believes that this approach will reduce political bickering and produce clearer lines of accountability as seen in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York, all cities where mayors received control over local public school systems in recent years. The final details of Williams' initiative are still being developed.

Williams may ask the city council for the authority to appoint all members of the local Board of Education, or he may seek to make the schools a city agency, with the superintendent becoming, in effect, a department head subject to hiring and firing by the mayor. Currently, Williams has the authority to appoint four of the nine city school board members. He received this authority through a change in the city charter by Washington voters three years ago.