Class Struggle

In the end, a compromise was reached that protected smaller schools -- some of which had originally been projected to lose as much as $200,000 in annual funding -- by cutting other aspects of the district's $794 million budget. And since that compromise, the funding shifts in the District of Columbia have generally been seen as successful.

Still, the process of adopting the new funding formula set the stage for a confrontational relationship between the city's multiple oversight bodies and Ackerman, who frequently and publicly complained that the numerous political entities surrounding the school board were making it difficult for her to do her job. During a City Council hearing on administrative spending, one councilman, a "Republican bomb-thrower" (according to Levy) named David Catania, repeatedly called Ackerman a liar and refused to apologize when it turned out the numbers he'd based his accusations on were false. Some around the school district felt that the Catania incident was why Ackerman chose to leave; others believed the control board's decision to let a charter school keep its public school building, yet leave the school system, was the last straw. (Ackerman is a vehement opponent of charter schools.)

"To me, there were a small group of people who were used to working the system, and their representatives, that made her life unbearable," recalls former control board member Joyce Ladner. "These were people who were used to running their schools like they were semiprivate; Arlene showed them who was boss. And it set off this "I'm gonna get you' mentality. They were constantly dragging her to hearings, accusing her of lying. It's a testament to her fortitude that she got anything done at all."

She did get things done in Washington, most notably cutting the size of the central office from 20 percent of the district's total budget to less than 6 percent, and raising test scores in each of her years there. (On the Stanford 9 standardized test, the percentage of students scoring below the "basic" level in reading dipped 6 percent; the percentage of students scoring below "basic" in math dipped 8 percent.) But, as in St. Louis, she left despite the progress, telling local newspapers that the school district's governance structure made it almost impossible for her to stay.

"How many people can be involved in the day-to-day operations?" Ackerman says from her San Francisco office. "You just can't have everybody weighing in on decisions and expect to get anything done."

Clearly, one of the main reasons for Ackerman's political problems within and without the Washington, D.C., school district is named Elois Brooks. Brooks, a white-haired, slightly built woman, was Ackerman's deputy superintendent in the District of Columbia and also worked with her in Seattle. She agreed to come out of retirement for a second time to help the superintendent's transition in San Francisco.

Brooks, who started work as chief of staff this month at a salary of more than $100,000, is widely seen as a capable, competent administrator with experience at the highest level in some of the nation's largest urban districts. She is also described, even by Ackerman's supporters, as frequently combative and confrontational, and largely responsible for some of Ackerman's public relations problems in Washington.

"Ackerman really relies on her [Brooks'] skills, you know -- good cop, bad cop," says Delabian Rice Thurston, who is president of Parents United for D.C. Public Schools and did not want Ackerman to leave. "You just never got a sense of anything warm from [Brooks] at all."

And Dixon, the District of Columbia school board member, puts it more bluntly: "Arlene brought Elois back? Oh, god. Run."

"For the longest time," Dixon continues, "there was this very real sense of fear surrounding her."

These sentiments seemed to crystallize during the Weighted Student Formula process, in which Brooks told members of the closed panel that they could not speak about the proceedings publicly. "The instructions from Elois were that we were supposed to keep this behind closed doors," recalls Mary Levy, who was part of the panel that hashed out the D.C. funding formula. "She said: "This is not subject to what the community wants. We're telling them what they're getting.'"

But Myong Leigh, the guru of the Weighted Student Formula, says that Brooks' new position has an internal focus, and should better fit her personality. "I'm really excited about her coming here. She's very tough, definitely a taskmaster, and I think that she's someone who prefers staying focused on getting things done, rather than being a diplomat."