Jerry Pournelle says that it’s a necessary, if not sufficient condition to fix public schools:
I have always thought that Congress, which has the undoubted right to run the DC school system any way it wants to, should make that the shining example of how schools ought to operate. THEN we might listen when the Department of Education tells the rest of the country what to do. But for the moment I believe the DC school system is actually the worst in the US. Of course the Washington educrats still assert the right to tell the rest of the country what to do. Why not?
The same would apply to DC gun laws.
It’s a pity,but until the late 20th Century DC was actually a shining example of government action and administration. The Feds used to use DC as a “Farm league” for hiring and training administrators. DC Schools was used for training people in the then Department of Health Education and Welfare.
DC Police was used to tryout FBI applicants who didn’t quite make the cut.
DC Transportation was used for DOT recruiting.
What this meant was DC government was viewed as a stepping stone into the federal system, and that you could get a really good applicant pool from the country.
When home rule came in, Marion Barry, stopped that, limited the pool to DC residents, and, just ruined the local government.
In the 1950’s DC schools were much better then the suburban schools, by the early 80’s, it had completely reversed.
This has been Pournelle’s position for as long as I have been reading his stuff (since the 1970’s). His wife Roberta has actually worked inside the educational system, so he plenty of real world experience to draw upon to form his opinions. Unfortunately, I think he is right on this one.
Take the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Dept. of Energy too.