Freedom from central bureaucratic control has been a key element in the creative energy driving charter schools in D.C. and elsewhere. Not surprisingly, giving more autonomy to individual school system schools also pays dividends. In Seattle, Houston, and Edmonton, Canada, progressive superintendents and school boards have found that decentralization, if done properly, produces outstanding results.
FOCUS believes that students attending DCPS schools would benefit enormously if more authority (and funding) were devolved to the school site from central office. To that end, we are bringing to the District a variety of school superintendents and others with first-hand experience of decentralization and putting them together with school system and District leaders. Our goal is to encourage the school system to begin to provide increased autonomy to high-performing and improving schools so that they can move to the next level.