There was a time during my government days when we were working on the budget and trying to navigate a sticky situation regarding DC's education funding and the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Representing DC in the talks was Dan Tangherlini, DC's city administrator. He turned out to be extremely smart and cagey, the????savviest????negotiator I had ever come across. In the end, we didn't get what we wanted most, and he did. It was a real lesson for me.
People matter.
Had anyone else been negotiating for DC, I am certain that the results would have been completely different. That he was at the table made all the difference.
I was reminded of those events by this Post article. Tangherlini has been tapped by the Obama administration to be an Assistant Secretary in the????Treasury????Department. I wish him well; I'm sure he'll be an asset.
But it's another reminder of the staffing situation at the Department of Education. They are administering the largest-ever influx of federal education funds, crafting an NCLB ESEA reauthorization, and so much more, and they still aren't fully staffed.
Moreover, they haven't brought in as many proven reformers as some of us had thought/hoped they would. Schnur is gone. Johnston stayed in Colorado. Rotherham is still Eduwonking. The deputy position went to a manager. There's still no Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. ????There's no chief of staff.
As the Tangherlini episode shows, the substance of staffing isn't just a DC parlor game--who's in and who's out--it deeply influences policy. I have to wonder if the botched handling of the OPS evaluation, the ARRA implementation missteps, and some other incidents might have worked out better had ED had more folks in place.
Obviously Secretary Duncan is talented and cares about kids; there's no doubt about that. ????And there are a number of very good people around him. ????But ED faces many difficult challenges, and they need these remaining seats filled swiftly and well.