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Season's Greetings from All of Us at Democrats for Education Reform
Cartoon by Andrew Hart, freelance artist and co-founder of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society.
To see more of his artwork, visit his website here www.andrewjhart.com
Race to the Top - Finalists Announced Today
Race to the Top: By the Numbers
in Round 1.
career ready" standards.
Careers (PARCC) consortium alone educate over 60 percent of the K-12 students in
the United States.
being used in teacher evaluations repealed those laws: California, Wisconsin, Nevada,
Maine, and Indiana. (New York simply let its law expire.)
Maryland, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Tennessee - enacted legislation that
requires student achievement data to be used in teacher evaluation or tenure decisions.
rhetoric that is used by opponents of these policies. The highest weighting any state has
given student tests in teachers evaluations is 50%.
Organizational Support
But union support varied much more widely than that in both rounds.
Nationwide, of the Round 2 finalists: 1,859 total local unions signed on as did:
In addition:
United Negro College Fund, Janet Murguía, President and CEO, National Council of
La Raza, Wall Street Journal
campaign, SPLC's website
- Kurt L. Schmoke, Dean, Howard University Law School, The Washington Post
Democrats for Education Reform Congratulates the 19 Race to the Top, Round 2 finalists
Oppose Obey Amendment Cuts to Obama Reform Initiatives
Oppose Reform-Gutting Obey Amendment to Supplemental Appropriations Bill
Dear Friend of Education Reform:
Last night Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee David Obey (D-WI) filed an amendment to a supplemental appropriations bill to cut funding for key Obama education reform initiatives to pay for an "education jobs" initiative. The amendment will likely be voted on today or tomorrow.
We need your help in getting members to oppose this divisive attempt to pit teacher jobs and salaries against reform efforts that will make sure precious educational resources are spent in a way that ensures all children - regardless of race, country of origin, or zip code - receive a high quality education that prepares them for college and the workforce.
The Obey amendment would cut:
- $500 million from Race to the Top, bringing the total available for state applications already submitted down from $3.4 billion to $2.9 billion;
- $100 million from the Charter Schools Program; and,
- $200 million from the Teacher Incentive Fund.
Call your Member of Congress via the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and tell them you oppose the Obey amendment, and that your are deeply disappointed that House leaders may put members in the position of having either to vote against teacher jobs and salaries or against the quality of education and public school choice options available to schoolchildren.
Tell them that the federal government must keep its promise to states like New York, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Florida, Maryland, and Colorado, that undertook bold education reforms with the understanding that they would get the resources needed to pay for them.
Tell them that you oppose this kind of inside-the-beltway gamesmanship that is out of touch with the collaborative efforts underway in your states and communities between parents, advocates, and other stakeholders, including teachers, to improve the quality of our nation's public schools.
On Federal Education Funding: Save Jobs, Serve High-Need Populations, Drive Innovation & Boost Effectiveness
Center for American Progress Action Fund
ConnCan
Democrats for Education Reform
Education Equality Project
Education Reform Now
Hope Street Group
Mississippi First
National Alliance of Public Charter Schools
National Council of La Raza
NewSchools Venture Fund
The New Teacher Project
Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence,
Kentucky
States Are Racing!
Just added - see our 3 new Race Smarter briefs: MA, MI, and NJ.
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The Race to the Top Phase 2 application filing deadline is June 1st. Many states, some that applied in Phase 1 and some that did not, have begun to step up legislative, regulatory, and planning action in anticipation. States must send an intent to file for Phase 2 to the U.S. Department of Education by May 4th.
We have re-launched our Race to the Top deadline countdown clock and a series of state-specific Race Smarter briefs at http://www.dfer.org/list/issues/racesmarter/.
Here is the first of a series of weekly updates on state activity. Special thanks to our crack staff, especially Charlie Barone, federal policy director and occasional DFER disc jockey:
Arizona: Despite coming in 40th out of 41 states in Phase 1, Governor Jan Brewer announced today that the state would re-apply in Phase 2. The state seems to be doubly challenged, as it is coming off a toxic legislative run in which it passed a a law that encourages racial profiling of suspected legal immigrants and, in what can only be interpreted as a nod to tea partiers and Obama-hating birthers, a law that requires Presidential candidates to show that they are "constitutionally eligible" for office. The state says it will focus a large part of its efforts on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, toward building the state's 21st century economic competitiveness.
Buena suerte.
DFER Response To President Obama's Call To Action
In response to President Barack Obama's speech at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in which he gave his first major address on education policy, Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) championed the plan and the President's willingness to make good on the promises he made while campaigning. DFER was an early supporter of President Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, because of their commitment to innovative education reform ideas and experience implementing change.
"During the long fight for the presidency Barack Obama made clear that education will be a central focus of his administration," said Joe Williams, executive director of DFER. "He promised to increase funding for charter schools and create a system for rewarding excellent teachers and today he demonstrated that he will fulfill those promises as president."
DFER supports Democratic candidates committed to progressive ideas like charter schools; adjustments in teacher licensing requirements; changes to teacher compensation to reward our best educators; and a renewed focus on early childhood education (in particular, linking early childhood education with charter schools, which usually do not include Pre-K).
"In spite of decades of talk about education reform, the system remains broken," Williams continued. "The Obama administration, with Arne Duncan at the head of the Department of Education, is leading the charge in breaking existing ideological and political gridlock to promote new, innovative and experimental ideas in education."
Stimulus Package: Historic Opportunity To Get Things Right (UPDATED)
Bring on the reform.
In the last two weeks, DFER has had the chance to make the rounds with legislators/governors in several state houses where the economy has wreaked havoc on state budget revenues and spending.
These states need help.
But we are very worried that Congress and the Obama administration haven't learned from the recent banking bailouts (bonuses for failing corporate executives?) that massive infusions of cash must be accompanied by significant reform if this is going to be anything along the lines of change we can believe in.
Nowhere is this issue more important than in the bailout which is poised to play out for public education (a bailout that we strongly support, so long as significant changes are made in the ways this money is spent to improve student learning and ensure equity.)
Read the DFER Talking Points on the Stimulus Package here.
Read the DFER Backgrounder Memo on the Stimulus Package here.
UPDATED FEB. 23, 2009: Read the DFER memo on implementation of stimulus funding here.
Help Us Continue The Momentum In 2009
A year ago we came to you with ambitious plans to make Democrats for Education Reform a force on the national stage. We wanted to push our party to do better and to focus considerable political attention toward better serving the young students who desperately need a quality public education to be able to survive and thrive in our rapidly changing world.
Our goal heading into 2008 was to show the world that there ARE Democrats who are interested in progress when it comes to K-12 public education and that there ARE important debates playing out WITHIN the party. These debates, we argued, are not only relevant, but represent a crucial part of the larger discussion about what kind of America we are creating, and whether or not we can afford to continue limiting the futures of young people who are conscripted to ineffective schools.
Mostly, we wanted to make clear to the world (and especially Democratic politicians) that there was an optimistic breeze of reform blowing its way across this nation's schools - led by committed, charismatic, idealists who are ready to shatter the political and ideological gridlock which historically kept a lid on good ideas aimed at closing the nation's intolerable achievement gap.
Our supporters pumped more than $2 million into political campaigns, including strong early support for President-elect Barack Obama. We sent a strong pro-reform message by backing emerging political leaders in places like Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, South Carolina, and California (and by helping to protect elected officials around the nation who were long ago leading the charge for change.)
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