California School Boards Association Responds to Announcement of Race To the Top Finalists
West Sacramento, Calif. – The California School Boards
Association commented today on the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement
that California was not selected as a finalist in Phase 1 of the Race To the Top
competition.
“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 the Governor in crafting future applications. Once they are made
public, CSBA will carefully review and comment on the reasons that California
was not chosen to participate in Phase 1 of the Race To the Top grant. In the
meantime, we continue to advocate for California to model data-driven decision
making and develop future education reform around established facts.”
CSBA President Frank Pugh added, “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. 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.”