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July 28, 2010

Race to the Top bypasses state

Patty Miller The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — Nineteen finalists were recently announced in the second round of the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, but once again Oklahoma was left out.

A spokesperson for U.S. Department of Education said 35 states and Washington, D.C., applied for a slice of the remaining $3.4 billion after Tennessee and Delaware split $600 million in the first round.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said of the 19 finalists, 10-12 winners will be announced in September.

Oklahoma was among the states that put together their application for the second round hoping to make the state more competitive by passing laws increasing the number of charter schools and adopting the new Common Core State Standards.

Although the second round scores have not been released, Oklahoma had a first round score of 294.6 out of 500 points.

The announcement was an even larger disappointment for educators in Oklahoma since the day before Education Week had released its projected list of finalists and Oklahoma was on it.

State Superintendent of Education Sandy Garrett had no comment about the selection.

The 19 finalist states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

“From educators to parents and political leaders to journalists — there is a growing sense that a quiet revolution is under way in our homes and schools, classrooms and communities,” Duncan said. “This quiet revolution is driven by motivated parents who want better educational options for their children.”

Educators and administrators are challenging the defeatism and inertia that have trapped generations of children in second-rate schools, Duncan said.

“We felt we put forth a strong proposal backed up with real reforms, but we knew this process was going to be very challenging and it would be difficult to make the finalist list,” Gov. Brad Henry said.

“The latest news certainly doesn’t diminish the promise of the reforms and innovations we are now implementing in our public school system. With or without federal Race to the Top funding, Oklahoma is moving ahead with its efforts to improve classroom outcomes and boost student success. Even though we didn’t secure a federal grant, Oklahoma’s public education system will be better because of our competition in Race to the Top.”

Jeanne Allen, president of The Center for Education Reform, issued the following statement regarding the announcement of the federal Race to the Top education funding program’s Round 2 finalists.

“The designation of Finalist status to 19 states out (of) 36 applications in the ‘Race to the Top’ is disheartening. The fact that status quo strongholds are sharing the same stage as truly groundbreaking education reform leaders such as Fla., N.Y. and the District of Columbia in a competition ostensibly focused on education reform efforts shows that ‘Race to the Top’ is inherently broken in both its scoring and priorities.

“Kentucky has rejected every opportunity to establish a charter school law, while New York reform leaders had to fight tooth and nail just to provide more charter opportunities to families there. And while Florida worked to abolish teacher tenure and establish a rigorous new evaluation process, Maryland handed the teachers union a blank slate for their evaluation criteria.

“Education reform has not moved forward through federal prodding, but by the work of parents, advocates and strong legislative leaders in states who see that special interests have blocked educational opportunities for our students,” Allen said. “The ‘Race to the Top’ should reward only those states that have disrupted business-as-usual in our schools, not succumb to the everyone’s-a-winner scenario presented by today’s selection of finalists.”

Henry thanked Kathy Taylor and Garrett for their work as well as the coalition of lawmakers, business leaders, education advocates and other stakeholders who worked hard and contributed to the state’s effort.

“The reforms and innovations they conceived and pushed through the Legislature will provide benefits for years to come,” Henry said.



pmiller@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 171

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