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Firing Teachers May Be Illegal
WTOP
Did the D.C. schools chancellor break the law when she fired hundreds of teachers earlier this month?
That’s what D.C. Council members are saying after revelations during a very heated council hearing Thursday afternoon.
Michelle Rhee told the D.C. City Council she ignored their mandate to cut funds from next year’s summer school program and instead fired hundreds of teachers.
When Rhee and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced they were firing the teachers, they said it was because of budget cuts passed by the city council.
An approximately $20 million gap existed prior to the Council budget cuts, which neither DCPS nor Mayor Adrian Fenty disclosed to the Council.
The Council also spent time Thursday grilling D.C. Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Noah Wepman.
Over a three-hour session, Wepman told the council members the $43 million budget gap that forced the firings were not entirely due to council budget cuts. Wepman said the DCPS budget was certified, despite the fact that there was a multi-million dollar budget shortfall.
After hearing the news, Council member Michael Brown said it made him think that the mayor “manufactured” the budget crisis in order to “fire union employees.”
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The Council did cut the DCPS budget by about $20 million last summer, but more than $9 million of that was mandated to be cut from next year’s summer school program.
But rather than make cuts to the summer school program, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee told the council she decided to fire teachers instead.
The council members said Rhee’s actions were illegal, since the budget was approved by the Council and signed by the mayor in a public process.
The only way to make changes to the school budget was a reprogramming request, which DCPS did not do, council members said.
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ron967
11 days ago
6 comments
What happened to all that stimulus $ that was supposed to save teachers' jobs? Obviously, it didn't go to education otherwise why did all those teachers get fired? I'm willing to bet it went to "creative" money management to balance DC's budget. I think Michelle Rhee is doing a TERRIBLE job. DC should fire her. She actually thinks bigger classroom sizes are more important than summer school programs? Keep the classroom size small so the kids don't have to make up what they didn't learn in summer school. Duh.
roaminronin
18 days ago
6 comments
She didn't follow the budget as she was mandated by the council and the mayor to do. She targeted unionized teachers. And you think she is doing a good job? If you didn't do what your superiors told you, do you think she would support you?
gcraig
18 days ago
4 comments
Anything that the DC City Council touches is corrupt. If you want a decent school system, appropriate what you are able and get out of the way. DC City Council has been trying to administer schools for years and look where it has gotten. It's record on public safety and infrastructure as just as abysmal. This is not a time to go near the DC schools, until Rhee gets a chance to really run things.
peej
18 days ago
2 comments
Kudos to Rhee for taking action & ridding the system of incompetents. I live nowhere near D.C., but its crappy school system makes national headlines enough to know that it will need a MAJOR overhaul in order to start graduating students who can become productive U.S. citizens. Michelle Rhee gets my vote; she has the best intentions for saving that school system. She's not there to win a popularity contest, & if you're not up to standards, you shouldn't be teaching!
kimtaylor
19 days ago
258 comments
Just once, ONCE, would the city prosecutor bring charges against the charlatans & chumps who perpretrated this fraud on the DC School system and DC taxpayers?? WP stories like this are a monthly routine dating back for decades telling of incompetant fools who are charged with great responsibility in DC gov't but end up abusing it and hookin' up their inner circle of fellow chumps.
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