RTTT: CSBA renews focus on funding and achievement
Published: March 9, 2010
CSBA officials joined in other state education leaders’ disappointment last week that California was among the 25 applicants not chosen as Phase 1 finalists for the Race to the Top competitive federal grant program, and they expressed their continued commitment to seek funding and reform measures to position the state’s public schools for success.
“We are disappointed that California was not selected for the first round of Race to the Top,” said CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin. “The California School Boards Association fully supports the state’s efforts to apply for additional funding from the federal government and stands ready to assist [Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger] in crafting future applications.”
The U.S. Department of Education announced March 4 that 15 states and the District of Columbia remain in the running for Phase 1 of Race to the Top, which will award $4.35 billion to states for use in partnership with local educational agencies to promote school reforms expected to boost student achievement. To be considered, states and their LEA partners had to commit to aggressive education reforms involving standards and assessments, data systems, high-performing teachers and principals, and turn-around strategies for low-performing schools.
Following presentations from each of the finalists later this month, federal education officials will determine which states will receive funding in Phase 1, and how much. All 41 applicants will then receive feedback based on the complicated 500-point scale they were measured against. Phase 2 applications will be due June 1, with winners to be announced in September.
Implications
Like other applicants, California raced to make significant and sometimes controversial changes in its education laws to increase its odds in the RTTT competition. As “Race to the Top Enabling Legislation: Implications for All School Districts and County Offices of Education,” a CSBA advisory posted on the association’s Web site, notes, “These bills are now California law and many have significant implications and rapid implementation deadlines for all school districts and county offices of education.”
CSBA President Frank Pugh echoed the advisory’s precautions and placed the federal grant competition in the context of the state’s budget crisis.
“Before the state jumps to ‘bigger and bolder reform,’ it needs to fully understand the reasons why California was not selected as a finalist in this round,” Pugh said. “Our state leaders also need to acknowledge the fiscal pressures that school districts are currently facing and recognize, as did the Getting Down to Facts project commissioned by the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence, that California’s school finance system is irrational, inequitable, inefficient and inadequate.”
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