The edublogs are aflutter with the news that 36 states have sent letters of intent to apply for round one of Race to the Top to the U.S. Department of Education. This doesn’t preclude other states from applying or require states that sent in letters to apply. The Department of Education asked states to send in letters of intent so the department can plan for the peer review process. No, Washington’s name is not on the list; we already decided to shoot for round two.
[hat tip(s): eduwonk, gothamschools, politics K-12]
Race to the Top is one of the most mean-spirited federal programs I have ever laid eyes on:
“We have a little money for you starving states. We will give a little, maybe 2% of your year’s education budget, to whichever state can suck up the hardest to the Great and Powerful Wizard of Ed, Arne Duncan (ex-charter boss, ex-investment banking foundation officer). Those states that prostrate themselves the lowest by aligning with OUR grand Reforms will get a pittance, those states who do not egt squat. So go, scrabble amongst each other, try to out do each other, climb over each other….for few will succeed, and those that don’t get squat, their children can just bug off.”
Truly pathetic. Anyone playing into this tragedy should be run out of town on a rail. Washington State put public education as its primary task in its constitution, and now some want to sell the whole thing to Arne Duncan and his fly-by-night cronies at the NCLB, R2T fiasco that the once-great Ed Dept has become.
Boycott R2T. Demand state funding.