In This Issue:
- School’s in: Students show more test score improvements — with lots of room to grow
- Overtime & Underserved: Audit of critical public safety departments reveals abuse of overtime and leave laws; some officers face criminal charges
August in Washington has come to an end. A new school year has begun. The DC Council will be returning from recess in two weeks. Local candidates’ election campaigns will un-pause their voter outreach now that summer vacations are over. Here’s a roundup of what you might have missed during your own break from DC politics.
Back to School: Progress, Choice, and Transition in DCPS
Last week, about 100,000 DC students headed back to school at DC Public Schools and public charter campuses. We wish every student and all our DC educators a fantastic year full of discovery, growth, and joy.
- Steadily Rising Test Scores: Mayor Bowser and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) released the results of the 2025–26 Comprehensive Assessments of Progress in Education (CAPE) — the end-of-year tests that DC students take in grades 3-8 and high school. Districtwide, English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency rose to 39.6% (up 2 percentage points) and math proficiency rose to 28.5% (up 2.1 percentage points). This marks the fourth consecutive year of proficiency gains since the return to in-person learning after the COVID pandemic. Growth is always welcome news, but we can’t overlook that a majority of DC students are performing below grade level. One glaring area for improvement: less than 15% of DC high school students are proficient in math.
- DCPS Leadership in Transition: DC’s school district begins the academic year under the leadership of Interim Chancellor Dr. Kim Jackson, an award-winning principal and longtime central office administrator. In an interview with WJLA , Dr. Jackson prioritized addressing chronic absenteeism, which links closely to low student performance. Following November’s general election, our newly elected mayor will face the critical task of appointing a permanent leader to sustain and accelerate the post-pandemic academic momentum.
- Federal Grand Jury: Attendance is reportedly on the U.S. Attorney for DC’s radar, too. The Washington Post reported last week that a special grand jury has been convened to focus on DC youth, including truancy and graduation rates. Will this investigation lead to meaningful reform, or is it another federal overreach by the Trump administration into District autonomy? As they say, the jury is out.
- Your Homework: On Substack, the producers of Capital Commonsense are running a back-to-school series demystifying DC’s complex education landscape. We encourage you to read Sara Mead’s breakdown of the good, the bad, and the complicated of DC’s school system.
Getting the Basics Right: Reforming Skyrocketing Overtime and Leave Costs
As the District transitions to a new mayoral administration and a reshaped DC Council, Opportunity DC’s core message remains clear: DC won’t be an attractive place for residents, businesses, or visitors if public services don’t improve. A pair of explosive developments this month highlights why fixing government matters.
- Do you take 3 months off from your job? A data brief from DC Auditor Kathy Patterson revealed that public safety agencies spent nearly $220 million on overtime in a single fiscal year. This massive expense is heavily driven by chronic staffing gaps and stunningly high rates of employee leave.
- Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers took an average of 8 to 10 weeks of leave last year, the auditor found.
- DC firefighters took an average of 8 to 11 weeks of leave, and 911 and 311 dispatchers averaged a full work week of being “absent without leave.”
- Due to severe staffing shortages, the Department of Corrections’ workforce of 704 is far below the 1,762 employees needed to fill essential 24/7 posts.
- Overtime Fraud Prosecutions: While structural leave and staffing gaps drain our budget, some DC employees are actively exploiting the system, federal prosecutors say. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced public corruption charges and arrest warrants against six MPD employees for allegedly forging supervisory approvals to receive more than $440,000 in fraudulent pay in 2024 alone. In short, investigators say, DC taxpayers paid police officers and other public officials for work they did not perform.
Paying exorbitant overtime to cover for poor leave management and outright fraud is unsustainable, especially as DC faces a tight fiscal environment. Our leaders must prioritize rigorous oversight, program evaluation, and operational reform to ensure residents get better service for the taxes we pay.
We hope you enjoyed your summer and have a great start to the school year.
Malcolm Fox, Executive Director