The Seattle Times covers a very timely story about what our state is doing to win Race to the Top dollars. Yesterday, the final regulations for Race to the Top federal grants was released by the U.S. Department of Education. Below is an excerpt from the article.
Despite the hurdles it faces, Washington does have some strengths to highlight.
In the past legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill to overhaul how the state funds its public schools, which included many of the same ideas the Obama administration is promoting, such as working to ensure all students graduate ready to go to college if they wish.
It also is further along than many states with the kind of data systems that Duncan has said he wants to see. Gregoire also said Duncan was impressed that Washington pays $5,000 bonuses to teachers who successfully complete the rigorous National Board Certification program.
That’s one way to reward teachers that the teachers union here supports.
Gregoire said Tuesday that she’s been talking with teachers union president Mary Lindquist and with Randy Dorn, the state’s top education official, about a legislative package for the upcoming session that starts in January.
It makes no sense to argue that the state legislature should pass pro-charter/merit pay/school turnaround law because of a fiscal need. The most we can get is $$250 million. This amounts to at most 3% of the state’s K-12 budget for this year. The changes will affect the state and localities profoundly for decades to come.
If the legislative changes are in the best interest of the state’s students, teachers, schools, and communities, then why is this tiny little carrot being used to justify the changes? The fact is, these changes are not in the best interest of the states students, teachers, schools, and communities.
Is LEV in favor of the RTT competition because the legislative changes serve the interests of Nick Hanauer, founder of LEV?. Does Nick want to own and operate charter schools? I certainly understand that charter schools in low income neighborhoods with non-unionized teaching staff, Title I funds, and buildings donated by the School District have the best business income potential.
Or does Nick have some interest related to real estate? If high quality charters are set up in gentrifying neighborhood, and in which an investor has heavily invested, the property value effect is potentially very lucrative.