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January 8, 2010

Seeking Grants, Paterson Urges Education Changes

(From The New York Times, January 7, 2010)

By JENNIFER MEDINA

Gov. David A. Paterson on Thursday proposed a host of changes in state education law, including eliminating the cap on the number of charter schools, which he said would make the state more likely to receive $700 million in federal grant money.

The governor's bill would also repeal a 2008 law that banned the use of standardized test scores in tenure decisions, as well as give the state the ability to pay for charter school construction and allow the state to take over low-performing schools.

The Obama administration has offered a total of $4 billion in so-called Race to the Top grants to states that show the most progress in education reform. Aides to the governor said that he had spoken with Education Secretary Arne Duncan in recent weeks and was convinced that the changes he proposed on Thursday were necessary to qualify for a slice of the fund. New York is estimated to be eligible for up to $700 million.

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January 6, 2010

Education Reform: California To Join Race To The Top Rush

(From The Christian Science Monitor, January 5, 2010)

By AMANDA PAULSON

On Tuesday, California legislators were set to pass a major education reform package that a few months ago would have been unthinkable.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has called a special session of the legislature to consider education reforms, including a controversial measure to link teacher evaluations to student test scores.

And in December, Michigan lawmakers passed a slew of major education laws that will affect charter schools, teacher accountability and evaluations, and merit pay.

The reason for the flurry of activity in these and other states: the $4.35 billion in competitive federal Race to the Top grants. States are scrambling to position themselves before the Jan. 19 application deadline.

"Politicians have so much to worry about that the Race to the Top money, and the need of states for additional money, and the deadline of the application have focused their attention in an extraordinary way," says Jack Jennings, director of the Center on Education Policy in Washington. "You see state laws being changed throughout the country."

States' stampede for cash

Other states that are still considering new education laws to make them more competitive in Race to the Top include Wisconsin, New York, Alabama, and Maine. And last year, numerous states changed their laws to be friendlier to charter schools or agreed to link teacher evaluations to test scores.

The Department of Education has made it clear that the grants - which will only be doled out to 10 to 20 states in the first round - will go to those states that are aligned with certain priorities, including an openness to charter schools, a willingness to connect student achievement to teacher performance, a commitment to tough standards, improving data collection, and using effective turnaround approaches for failing schools.

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Senate Ed Committee Members Seem Resigned to MPS Bill Impasse

(From WisPolitics, January 6, 2010)

By KAY NOLAN

Some members of the Senate's Education Committee seemed resigned Tuesday to an impasse over legislation to give the mayor control of Milwaukee's trouble school system after they heard hours of contentious testimony over the proposal to strip the elected board of key powers.

More than 300 people packed the MPS district office auditorium this morning with more 100 signed up to speak at the hearing, which began at 10 a.m. But three and a half hours later, only various public officials had addressed the committee and only about 100 remained in the audience by 2:30 p.m.

State Sen. Lena Taylor and state Rep. Pedro Colón, both of Milwaukee and co-authors of the mayoral control bill, said the MPS governing structure is broken and can't be fixed.

"It's not undemocratic to make a mayor elected by the people in charge of a school district," said Taylor.

But opponents of the mayoral takeover argued it would create a top-down system of management and that the elected school board would become ineffective, with little or no authority. Many likened that situation to losing the right of citizens to vote altogether. Jerry Ann Hamilton, president of the Milwaukee chapter of the NAACP, cited the long-fought battle for voting rights among African-Americans in arguing against the bill.

"Paying a school board to do nothing goes against every Milwaukee value," testified state Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, who has proposed an alternative to give the mayor greater input on MPS while retaining the elected board.

A frustrated Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, asked Coggs: "We've heard two and a half hours of passionate advocacy for the children of Milwaukee ... but there are insufficient votes for the mayoral takeover to pass. There are also insufficient votes for your bill. We're at an impasse, and an impasse tends to lead to the status quo. What is it going to take to move us to a compromise?"

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January 3, 2010

State Lagging In Race For Education Funding

(From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 3, 2010)

By ERIN RICHARDS

As Gov. Jim Doyle's office prepares to put the final touches on Wisconsin's application for a slice of $4 billion in federal school grants, state legislators will hold a public hearing in Milwaukee Tuesday on two bills that could make or break Wisconsin's chances of winning the nationwide competition.

The education reform bills - one that would give Milwaukee's mayor the power to head Milwaukee Public Schools and another that would give the state superintendent more authority to turn around low-performing schools - will be open for public comment Tuesday at the MPS central office in a hearing hosted by the state Senate Education Committee.

Doyle has said for months that the measures are necessary to put Wisconsin in a good position for winning a piece of the $4 billion Race to the Top competition. But both proposals have faced opposition, and it's unclear if the state Legislature will vote on either of them before the Jan. 19 first-round grant application deadline.

Meanwhile, other states are successfully passing last-minute education reform measures as they try to take advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars in extra education funding, and that may eclipse Wisconsin's efforts, said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.

"As good as things looked a month or two ago for states like Wisconsin (which passed four education reform bills in November), Wisconsin is now in a position where, if it doesn't take some drastic steps on things like mayoral control, it's going to be hard for them to make a strong case," said Williams, whose group has been tracking states' efforts in Race to the Top maneuvering.

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December 30, 2009

Competition For Federal Education Funding Forges Unlikely Alliances

(From The Denver Post, December 30, 2009)

By PETE COORS and STEVE SCHUCK

As Colorado competes for Race to the Top funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Coloradans of all stripes have come together to build a plan that will literally redefine the way we address one of our most intractable challenges -- how to better educate all our children.

When the interests of our kids, families, communities and businesses are on the line, we must subordinate our personal, historical agendas to the securing of their futures. The interests of our kids must trump partisan politics.

Colorado is applying for millions in federal funds to be used to transform our state's education system. Who can dispute the need to do so? Certainly not the low-income families whose kids are imprisoned in our worst schools and who account for the bulk of the 50 percent of Colorado's students who cannot read, write, add and subtract at grade level. Certainly not the businesses seeking well-educated employees. Is this a crisis? Does this call for dramatic and immediate attention? You bet.

Only because the need for education reform is so acute have unlikely bedfellows buried their differences on other issues and come together in support of Colorado's application for Race to the Top funding.

How important is winning this race to our families, to our business community, to our education community, to neighborhood and ethnic organizations, and to our political establishment? Enough to bring Democrats for Education Reform, Colorado Education Association, school administrators, Colorado Children's Campaign, Colorado Succeeds, Colorado Concern, Club 20, Action 22, Stand for Children, the governor's office, the state Department of Education, numerous chambers of commerce, and others under the same tent in support of what is best for our kids' futures.

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Two State Unions Balking At 'Race To Top' Plans

(From Education Week, December 30, 2009)

By STEPHEN SAWCHUK

Teachers' unions in at least two states are threatening to withhold endorsements of their state's Race to the Top applications, which could jeopardize the states' chances of winning the coveted federal dollars.

In a letter printed as an advertisement in the Tallahassee Democrat, Florida Education Association President Andy J. Ford discouraged local union affiliates from signing an agreement to implement a state plan that, among other things, would require districts to base teacher evaluations and compensation bonuses heavily on student test scores.

"Any sense of collaboration is absent in your proposal," Mr. Ford wrote in the Dec. 17 letter to Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith. "Your approach is prescriptive, top down, and unreasonable."

The president of Education Minnesota, Thomas A. Dooher, said he will also advise local affiliates not to sign off on the state application unless officials there agree to changes, including dropping a requirement that participating districts implement a pay program that has been voluntary for districts.

The Race to the Top program, part of the economic-stimulus legislation passed last year, has been problematic for the national teachers' unions because of its heavy emphasis on using student achievement to measure teacher effectiveness. Now the action has moved to the state and local level, as states prepare applications for the Jan. 19 deadline for the first round of funding.

The $4 billion program is forcing states to engage in a delicate balancing act of aggressively pursuing the money while maintaining support from state and local union affiliates.

"We're bumping up against a reality where the teaching profession is resisting doing a lot of things that are pretty sensible," said Charles Barone, the director of federal policy for Democrats for Education Reform, a political action committee that has been highly critical of teachers' unions. "We're in for a showdown. The unions aren't going to give in most cases, and I think the [Obama] administration is going to have to see what it's got in front of it."

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