Seven members were appointed by the mayor, while the remaining six were elected by those citizens who had donated funds to the city's school system.

[3] For most of the 19th century, the District of Columbia was divided into three distinct legal entities: The Federal City (consisting mostly of the area south of Florida Avenue), the town of Georgetown, the town of Alexandria, and the County of Washington (that part of the District not included in the previous three entities).

That year, the United States Secretary of the Interior established and appointed a Board of Trustees for Colored Schools.

[3] In 1871, Congress merged the county, Georgetown, and Federal City into a single legal entity (Alexandria having been retroceded to Virginia in 1846).

New legislation established a seven-member Board of Education (BOE) whose members were appointed by the city's three federal commissioners.

[5] In 1954, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954), which desegregated public schools in the District of Columbia.

He argued the judges were caught by a conflict of interest by appointing the BOE and then later ruling on desegregation lawsuits involving the city schools.

The Hobson ruling led to widespread criticism of the existing BOE and governance structure of the D.C. public school system (some of it generated by the board itself).

[7] In 1939, writing on behalf of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia, Superintendent Frank Ballou denied a request by contralto Marian Anderson to sing at the auditorium of the segregated white Central High School.

The District of Columbia has no home rule; it is controlled by congressional committees, and Congress at the time was overwhelmingly Democratic.

To my way of thinking, both places should have been denounced, or neither.” Although Anderson later performed at an open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial, the Board retained its policy of exclusion.

Congress made the mayor-council form of government permanent after passing the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in 1973, which provided for a publicly elected mayor and city council.

[7] With the city mismanaged and nearing bankruptcy, Congress enacted legislation in April 1995 creating the District of Columbia Financial Control Board.

[12] With the city's finances stabilizing, Congress enacted the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997.

[17] The Control Board gave up its governance authority over the BOE in January 1999, after Anthony A. Williams when took office as mayor.

Under Williams' proposal, the mayor would have the right to hire and fire the superintendent, principals, teachers, and other workers, and would gain significant new powers to reconstitute programs, operations, curriculum, and even entire schools.

[19] Little action was taken, however,[20] and in February 2004 Chavous said he no longer supported the mayor's bill, citing a need for structural stability in order to attract a quality superintendent.

[21] With the hybrid system set to expire in July 2004, the council had the opportunity to renew or replace the structure of the board.

Other duties and functions include:[25] OSSE and the SBOE collaborated on developing the District of Columbia's five-year strategic plan, which was required by PERAA.