Blog Posts
July 22, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
The D.C. Council has wrapped up the Fiscal Year 2020 budget but held an eight-hour hearing June 26 on process details: how to allocate and track education dollars flowing to schools in the traditional system, especially special funds intended to help the neediest students, that the D.C. Auditor reported recently had likely been misspent for […]
July 19, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
Are records of a public police discipline hearing, including the transcript and exhibits, to be locked away afterwards as though it never happened? MPD in March denied such a records request by the Public Defender Service and has not responded to a decision by the mayor overruling that denial. Now the case has landed in […]
The Letter With Facts About Charter School Transparency the Washington Post Didn’t Print
May 21, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
The costs and burdens of allowing public access to charter school records in the District of Columbia seemed exaggerated in a Washington Post “Local Opinion” piece by Lis Kidder earlier this month. Her projections were far-fetched (and her sources unexplained). I wrote the letter below from my own experience. To the Editors: In my 20 […]
May 10, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
Update: the proposed FOIA changes were withdrawn and not debated or voted on, so their rationale and support remain unclear. The Council Chairman said a larger FOIA reform bill will be offered in the fall. Changes to the D.C. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to narrow records available and make them harder to get are […]
Coalition Fights for Public Right to Hear (All of) What’s Going On In Trials
April 10, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
Is a criminal trial “public” (as the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution requires) if the judge questions prospective jurors out of audience earshot? Jonathan Blades was headed for trial in D.C. Superior Court in January 2015 on multiple felony charges stemming from a late-night fight and shooting in February 2014 at 20th and L Streets, N.W., His […]
March 21, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
After eight months, The Washington Post has won its fight for release of police body-worn camera video showing the June 2017 traffic stop of D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8). Background on the case is here. And D.C. activist April Goggans has lost her case seeking records (that police say mostly don’t exist) […]
Clouds Over Sunshine Week: Closed D.C. Council Meeting Raises Questions With No Way to Get Answers
March 16, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
In the week celebrated nationwide to draw attention to open government (coinciding with the birthday of James Madison, an early champion), the D.C. Council last Tuesday (12) talked with and about Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) for an hour behind closed doors. According to Fenit Nirappil’s account in The Washington Post, following a 9-3 […]
February 28, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
Ten thousand record requests each year reach D.C. government agencies, invoking the iconic open government law, the D.C. Freedom of Information Act or FOIA. But the journey is needlessly difficult, open government advocates Thursday (29) told the D.C. Council. The “online portal” — using software called FOIAXpress — debuted in 2014 and advertised smooth sailing […]
February 21, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
As the D.C. charter school board prepares for a second hearing (Monday, Feb. 25) on an expanded list of items schools must post, the issue went even more public in recent days. D.C. Council heard opponents of broader public access to meetings and records — the powerful charter lobby group Friends of Choice in Urban […]
February 21, 2019, by Fritz Mulhauser
The Public Charter School Board (PCSB), the policy board that governs all 120+ D.C. charter schools (through 60-some local education agencies, each of which also has its own board), issued “version 2” of new rules Friday (8) for information that must be posted on each school’s website. A previous draft issued in December 2018 drew […]
