The NorThwesT CurreNT
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Council adds more money for education
LEARNING FROM THE BEST
Modernizations move forward at West, Eaton ■ Schools: Council finds
funds for long-sought work
■ Budget: Streetcar funding
for K St. extension reduced
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
This year’s budget process was less heated than in previous years, D.C. Council members agree. But big points of contention still arose before the council approved the fiscal year 2018 budget last Tuesday, including a dispute over tax cuts and the last-minute defunding of a Ward 2 streetcar extension. The council’s unanimously approved budget plan goes through a mandated second vote on June 13. The most vigorous fight last week concerned the tax cuts set to take effect next January for businesses and estates. At-large Council member David Grosso sought to delay those cuts in favor of more funding for schools, early childhood facilities and rapid rehousing for recently released prisoners. At-large member Elissa Silverman and Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau voted in favor of his amendment, while Ward 8 Council member Trayon White supported delaying the estate tax cut only. But without broader support, Grosso’s efforts failed. Still, for schools, the council’s approved budget reflects a notable bump from the mayor’s originally proposed 1.5 percent increase for the annual per-pupil funding for D.C. Public Schools. Advocacy groups had called for an increase of between 2 and 4 percent; the council ultimately settled on 3. Grosso told The Current, though, that he’d hoped the tax cut delay would allow for a 3.5 percent increase, in line with an initial recommendation from D.C.’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education. “I was hoping to get to the recommended line, but my colleagues obviously didn’t support me,” Grosso said. See Budget/Page 15
Vol. L, No. 23
Serving Chevy Chase, Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Crestwood, Petworth & 16th Street Heights
Brian Kapur/The Current
Zoe Stukenberg, who led the University of Maryland women’s lacrosse team to a national title, helped run a lax clinic at St. John’s College High School last Wednesday. She and other college lacrosse stars were in D.C. for the Tewaaraton Awards, which go to top men’s and women’s players. On Monday, Stukenberg was honored during an event at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Long-sought renovations to Ward 4’s West Education Campus are due to begin soon, after the D.C. Council adopted a capital budget last week that provides $78.5 million in funding over the next four fiscal years. The 1970s-era building at 1338 Farragut St. NW, which serves 303 students in pre-K through eighth grade, is D.C. Public Schools’ last “open classroom” facility to be renovated. Right now at West, separate rooms are divided by thin curtains or mobile chalkboards. Several kindergarten and firstgrade spaces on the ground floor lack windows. The heating and air conditioning are unreliable, and the third floor is inaccessible to students with disabilities. The council’s budget — which will need a second, final vote on June 13 — allocates $1 million for renovation planning in fiscal year 2018, $7.5 million in 2019 and $35 million each in 2020 and 2021.
Brian Kapur/The Current
West Education Campus is slated for a $78.5 million renovation.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed budget had offered a slightly larger allocation of $82 million, but the first portion of those funds wouldn’t have become available until fiscal year 2019. The renovation is still far enough away that the scope of the project hasn’t yet been determined. However, the West community is excited that a recent surge in activism — including testimony at council hearings and letters to key officials — has paid off after previous failed attempts to expedite the project. But they remain frustrated that a school listed as the No. 5 priority for modernizations on a citywide 2016 council list has had to push so hard for what they see as imperative. See Modernization/Page 5
City pitches possible changes to DC Circulator bus routes By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
A series of changes under consideration for the DC Circulator bus network would affect two Northwest lines — eliminating Wisconsin Avenue service north of M Street NW, and running for the first time to Howard University. The D.C. Department of Transportation is currently surveying residents online and near some bus routes on these changes, as well as on proposals affecting lines outside of Northwest and on the possibility of bus enhancements. The popular Circulator service is intended as a user-friendly complement to Metrobus, with $1 fares and reliable 10-minute headways for six simple routes serving high-demand locations. The new proposals come from the Transportation Department’s periodic effort to review existing lines and the potential for new ones. If the new Circulator changes receive
Brian Kapur/Current file photo
The Dupont Circle-Georgetown-Rosslyn line would reach U Street and Howard University.
enough public support, they would go into effect in spring 2018. The first proposal in Northwest would affect the Union Station-Georgetown line, which in Georgetown currently travels from the waterfront up the Wisconsin Avenue hill to a turnaround at Whitehaven Parkway NW. As proposed, the buses would instead turn right on M
Street and return downtown, skipping the northern section of Georgetown’s commercial area. The Transportation Department says this change will improve reliability by avoiding a high-traffic stretch that can lead to delays, and that Wisconsin riders can easily take Metrobus. The other Northwest proposal for the Circulator — also recommended three years ago but never implemented — would extend the Dupont Circle-Georgetown-Rosslyn line. That route currently turns around just south of Dupont Circle; the extension would instead go through the circle and then take 18th Street north to U Street, then follow U Street to 8th Street NW, circling around near Howard University. There are no proposed changes to the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan-McPherson Square or the National Mall routes. Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans is among the opponents to reducing Wisconsin See Circulator/Page 26
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