Calling the Fenty administration’s approach to education reform “shortsighted, narrow and sometimes secretive,” D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray unveiled a blueprint Thursday to guide education policy if he is elected mayor.
The plan promises more transparency, funding equity for public charter schools, tax credits for early-childhood programs and greater support for the city’s neighborhood high schools.
Educators, students and supporters filled the library at Thurgood Marshall Academy, a public charter high school in Southeast, where Gray outlined an ambitious plan and tried to further distinguish himself from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who has made public schools one of his priorities.
Gray, who is challenging Fenty for the Democratic nomination for mayor, said he gives “tremendous credit” to Fenty for calling attention to the need for education reform. But “what we’ve learned over the past three years is that it’s not enough to have mayoral control. What we need, ladies and gentlemen, is mayoral leadership,” he said to hearty applause.