Press
June 4, 2010
Can NJ Win Race to the Top Without Support of Teachers Union?
(From the New Jersey Spotlight, June 4, 2010)
By JOHN MOONEY
Massachusetts made a last-minute decision to apply for Race to the Top money with only mixed support from its teachers unions. California filed its application despite the opposition of its largest local union, the one representing Los Angeles teachers.
"Without support from the union that represents more than 90 percent of Indiana's school districts, our application will not be competitively positioned," said Indiana's schools superintendent, Tony Bennett.
Then there's New Jersey.
Gov. Chris Christie took his own tack this week. In a stunning turn, Christie announced he would reject a compromise his own education commissioner, Bret Schundler, struck with the teachers union to gain its support, and defiantly said he would file the application without it.
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June 3, 2010
Local PR Firm Fetes Cartel Director
(From Westfield Patch, June 3, 2010)
By JOHN CELOCK
Education reform advocates from around New Jersey gathered in Westfield Wednesday night to honor the director of a new documentary on education reform.
Jaffe Communications, a North Avenue based firm, sponsored a reception at Ferraro's honoring Bob Bowdon, the director of The Cartel, which would be having a second screening at the Rialto following the affair. Bruno Tedeschi, a principal in the firm, said the reception was designed to bring together various education reform groups that the firm works with to network and discuss issues.
"We found him to be a great guy and someone we wanted to associate with," Tedeschi said of Bowdon. "When we heard he was coming back to Westfield we wanted to do something to honor him for the movie he's made. Many guests are at the forefront of education reform and gave them a chance to meet Bob."
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June 2, 2010
Maryland, District join second round of Race to the Top education initiative
(From The Washington Post, June 2, 2010)
By NICK ANDERSON
Maryland and the District joined 34 states Tuesday in competing for a share of $3.4 billion in federal aid for school improvement efforts such as stronger teacher evaluation. But Virginia stayed on the sidelines.
Race to the Top, President Obama's signature education initiative, has spurred states to rewrite laws and regulations long considered untouchable. Some states made it harder for teachers to get tenure. Some eliminated barriers to linking teacher evaluations to student test scores. Others eased limits on independent public charter schools.
Delaware won about $100 million and Tennessee about $500 million in March in the first round, placing just ahead of Florida and Georgia, which are among the second-round favorites.
"This money has energized coalitions around plans," said Charles Barone of Democrats for Education Reform, a group that supports Race to the Top. "Some have succeeded amazingly, some have succeeded modestly, and some did not succeed. But the people that want change are a lot better leveraged now in the public debate."
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Obama's 'Race to the Top' Education Fund Draws Fewer States
(From Bloomberg Businessweek, June 2, 2010)
By MOIRA HERBST
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- President Obama's Race to the Top program, designed to transform U.S. education with $4.35 billion in federal grants, attracted three fewer states to the competition's second round amid resistance to changes in teacher pay and tenure rules and states' fears that the federal government may exert too much influence over its schools.
In all, at least a dozen states didn't apply for one or both rounds of the competition, according to Department of Education data. Applications were due yesterday for the second round of funding; winners will be announced in September. Tennessee and Delaware were the only states out of 41 applicants, including the District of Columbia, to receive the first grants in the competition, the Education Department announced in March.
Race to the Top represents the largest pool of federal discretionary education money in U.S. history. States dropping out of the competition cited objections to Obama's effort to impose national education standards as well as resistance to changes by teachers' unions. The application process is too time-consuming for the size of the grants, said Jamie Gass, director of the Center for School Reform at the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit group that advocates market- based public policy initiatives.
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June 1, 2010
N.J. Gov. Christie revises bid for education grant; throws out compromise
(From The Bergen Record, June 1, 2010)
By LESLIE BRODY
Governor Christie threw out the school reform blueprint endorsed by the state's biggest teachers union last week and filed a new bid Tuesday for a high-stakes federal grant known as "Race to the Top."
Christie said his education commissioner had compromised too much in order to win the union's blessing for a contest that could bring $400 million to the state. Christie said the new proposal reinstated key elements of earlier plans, such as merit pay for individual teachers, putting job performance over seniority when laying off staff, making it easier to fire poor teachers, and giving bonuses to successful faculty who relocate to failing schools.
The eleventh-hour change came as a shock to officials at the New Jersey Education Association, who said they learned on Tuesday afternoon - the contest deadline - that the governor had changed the application and taken off their signatures of support.
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How Race to the Top is recasting education reform in America
(From The Christian Science Monitor, June 1, 2010)
By AMANDA PAULSON
New York is more than doubling its number on charter schools and will tie teacher evaluations to student performance.
Colorado passed a major overhaul of teacher tenure and evaluation rules, despite fierce union opposition.
And Louisiana teachers will be subject to more rigorous evaluation, after a law the legislature pushed through last week.
As states submit their applications Tuesday for Round 2 of the Obama administration's Race to the Top education grants, several states have taken major actions to try to be more competitive. At the same time, a handful have dropped out, either over disagreement about the framework of the competition or after a failure to get the reforms needed to have a shot at a piece of the $4.3 billion pot of federal money.
The nationwide churn on education reform shows how much mileage the administration has gotten out of a relatively small pot of money - permanently changing the reform agenda in the US as a result, experts say. In addition, Race to the Top seems to be giving many states the political cover they need to push through reforms unpopular with unions.
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May 29, 2010
City Club speaker says time is right for school reform in Cleveland
(From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 29, 2010)
By THOMAS OTT
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Conditions are right to radically change the way schools do business, but proponents better act quickly or public attention will fade, says Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.
Williams covered a variety of hot topics in a speech Friday at a City Club forum. He pushed for merit pay, tougher evaluation of teachers and for challenging his party's historically close relationship with teachers unions.
Change is possible because a rising generation of reformers are fed up with public schools' failures and have declared "enough is enough," said Williams, an author and former education writer for the New York Daily News and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He said President Barack Obama and other Democrats have to continue confronting teachers unions, traditionally their supporters.
Backing also comes from foundations, charter schools and new alliances like Hispanic women who want safer schools for their children, Williams said. But he estimates that what he calls a "revolution" has only about three years to take hold before public attention moves on to other issues.
"We may not have a very long window," he said. "The burden is on us to make the most of this transformation."
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