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WASHINGTON - The D.C. school system is still adjusting to major reforms after Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chancellor Michelle Rhee took over in June and despite the Board of Education being stripped most of its powers, there are nineteen candidates looking to fill nine spots.

Before the D.C. council passed the School Reform Act, the Board of Education had many responsibilities. School board President Robert Bobb says members hired and fired of superintendents, drew-up school budgets, and developed the standards for curriculum and teacher certification. Now, much of that power has been transferred to the mayor's office, which is why Bobb is not running for re-election. "With the changeover, in my judgment there really is no reason to have an elected state board given the fact that it's limited in responsibilities," said Bobb.

The D.C. school board is now responsible for approving graduation requirements and standards for school accreditation. Before the reform, the Board of Education consisted of five elected and four appointed positions. Now, all members are elected and Bobb says that could create some challenges. "Having a board now elected with members from every ward in the District of Columbia really sets up to become more of a political board as opposed to more of a policy board," said Bobb.

Lisa Raymond currently serves as board vice-president. While Raymond is disappointed the board's responsibilities are limited, she is running for re-election. "It's different. It's certainly very different than what I signed up for, but I think what's more important is that there are now even more people who are completely focused on improving public schools in the District," said Raymond.

Raymond says the board does have an important role of approving curriculum standards. She says in the last year, the board passed learning standards in social studies, fine arts, and health, which for the first time in D.C. includes comprehensive sex education. "Three years ago there were standards, but these are new standards that are nationally recognized as being very strong and in large part can account for some gains in achievement that we've made in the last couple of years," said Raymond.

Current board member William Lockridge says the goal is for schools to implement the standards the board sets. The goal is to bring down the dropout and truancy rates in D.C. schools. Lockridge says monitoring schools that fail No Child Left Behind Act standards will be on the board's agenda this year. "We have a year to look at those schools and evaluate them and then the next coming school year we're going to have another group of schools. That might not make AYP in five years and that move is going to be what we do with those schools after we evaluate what's currently being done," said Lockridge.

Despite having less authority, Lockridge says the board will still have an impact. "When schools are not faring well on the local level, the state under No Child Left Behind has a little muscle. It's just how we use that muscle and how well its going to be perceived by the powers that be," said Lockridge.

But those powers pose some challenges for the board members. Raymond says right now, there isn't a clear separation between the Board of Education and the mayor's office. "There have been some questions by council of whether the Office of State Superintendent should be an independent agency as opposed to reporting to the mayor and I think that's something that may come up again next year by the council so it will be really interesting to see how that plays out," said Raymond.

A request for an interview with Chancellor Rhee was declined. The election marks the first time the entire D.C. Board of Education will be elected by the public. According to current member William Lockridge, that means members will have a greater responsibility to answer their concerns.

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