UPDATE: At Mayor Fenty's request, Judge Lynn Leibovitz of the DC Superior Court on June 7 blocked our effort to seek a referendum on the school takeover. Sign up below to join this group of DC citizens who care about democracy. These pages will be updated soon.
DC BOEE reverses it's decision on the referendum, June 7, 2007.
The people respond...
What's at Issue:
The Mayor and the City Council are attempting to take over the District's public schools, without putting their proposal to a vote of District residents.
The Problem:
We are glad our City leaders are finally turning their attention to our school system, but we insist on our right to approve or reject any major change in our government -- a right held by citizens in 49 states.
Instead of seeking the approval of DC residents, Mayor Fenty and the D.C. Council chose to ask Congress
and President Bush to change D.C.'s
Home Rule Charter, to greatly reduce the authority of the Board of Education.
Our Solution:
DC's Home Rule Charter gives residents the right to a public referendum on any legislation passed by the Council.
Mary Spencer and a coalition of concerned DC residents asked the Board of Elections and Ethics for permission to start the process of putting the School Takeover
Legislation on the ballot, in a referendum. The Board of Elections and Ethics heard
and approved this request recently.
LetMeVote.org asks you to join the petition drive so that
District residents finally
get a chance to vote on the proposed Schools Takeover.
Referendum Measure No. 007
SHORT TITLE
"Referendum on Certain Provisions of the Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007"
SUMMARY STATEMENT
This referendum asks the voters to approve or reject the parts of the "Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007" that would:
- Establish the District of Columbia Public Schools as an agency controlled by the Mayor;
- Create a Chancellor to administer the District of Columbia Public
Schools who is appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council of
the District of Columbia, and;
- Transfer to the Mayor all functions of the District of Columbia
Board of Education as the local education agency.
We need 30,000 signatures to put this legislation to a vote.
There are currently
230
volunteers pledging to gather
9551 signatures and willing to recruit another
535
volunteers to help.
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Read the archived articles, examine the actual legislation, make a donation, but most importantly, please volunteer to gather petition signatures and find others to do the same!
Get Involved
