Opening Statement of Councilmember David Grosso, Chairperson

Joint Committee on Education and Committee of the Whole hearing on

B23-0199, the Public School Transparency Amendment Act of 2019
B23-0281, the Public Charter School Closure Amendment Act of 2019
October 2, 2019

Today’s hearing is on B23-199, the “Public School Transparency Amendment Act of 2019”,
introduced by CMs Allen, Cheh, Bonds, Silverman, and Nadeau; and B23-281, the “Public
Charter School Closure Amendment Act of 2019”, introduced by Chairman Mendelson on
behalf of the Public Charter School Board.

Earlier this year, we held a hearing on the School-Based Budgeting and Transparency
Amendment Act. Though that hearing dealt solely with getting a baseline understanding of
where public dollars are going at the school level, many of the witnesses there testified about
the bill before the Committee right now.

I have long been a supporter of government transparency.

As such, I have created a dropbox where we publish all the information received from agencies
under the Committee’s jurisdiction. Many on the witness list use that information to run their
own analysis.

In Council Period 21, I introduced the “Strengthening Transparency and Open Access to
Government Amendment Act.” That bill amended the appeals process for FOIA requests so
that they were handled by the Office of Open Government; codified the principle of “release to
one, release to all” so that when a record is disclosed under FOIA, it was posted online for
anyone; and standardized and streamlined how our government approaches open meetings so
that a meeting is open only if the public is permitted to attend, which is not the current policy
even here in the Council. As the oversight body, we have a fiduciary obligation to know and
understand exactly where taxpayer dollars are going and if it is complying with the
expectations and regulations of Council.

Unfortunately, that bill did not receive a hearing.

1 of 2
I again introduced that bill in Council Period 22 and again it was referred to the Committee on
Judiciary and Public Safety and faced the same result.

At the heart of today, I am wondering what information is needed that we do not have access
to currently? And how is that information so vital to ensuring our students are safe, loved, and
academically engaged and challenged?

Finally, I cannot help but notice that today in the Council building, the DC Chapter of Moms
Demand Action is here to talk about gun violence. This year, as in years prior, our students are
facing an increased amount of gun violence. Since August 26th, three students under the age
of 17 have been killed. Additionally, 19 have been victims of nonfatal shootings.

This constant trauma affects their ability to get to school safely. It is why I introduced a bill to
beef up efforts around safe passage – one that was curiously not referred to the Committee on
Education.

The trauma also affects their ability to focus in class. Which is why I have partnered with CM
Gray on pushing the expansion of School-Based Behavioral Health workers into every school
across the District.

I want to thank CM Allen for having the hearing tomorrow on Gun Violence in the District in
general, and I will attend.

Last spring, a group of high school students who had been directly affected by violence in our
community asked to meet with me to talk about the NEAR Act and what we, as a Council, were
doing to address the problem.

Their number one ask was that I, along with my colleagues, consult with them about the
policies we were developing, in order to get their feedback and incorporate it.

Those students, who went on to create the youth-led organization Pathways2Power, wanted
two things from us as the policy makers and government—that we come up with specific ideas
for stopping violence and that we talk to them and take seriously their thoughts on those
ideas.

I look forward to further public engagement today, and learning more about what information
is available, what information we still need, and what recommendations witnesses have on
how we can improve the legislation before us.
###

2 of 2