WASHINGTON — When Secretary of Education Arne Duncan picked only two states as winners in the first round of a national competition for education dollars, he meant to spur unsuccessful states into action. Demonstrate the bar is high, he said, and people will try to reach it.
Two weeks later, as some of the finalists prepare their second attempts for Race to the Top funds, it’s unclear if that’s the case. Several of the finalists publicly declared that they might not reapply, and others plan to resubmit a slightly tweaked or even weaker version of their original application.
“I have not been told we’re going to change anything,” said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education, whose state’s application placed third in Race’s first round. “We’re going forth with our application and will push what’s in it even stronger.”
It’s not a bad mentality, education experts said. But it speaks to the nature of funding American schools with a national sweepstakes, and it has some reformers crying foul.
“A funny thing happens with federal regulations,” said Jeanne Allen with the Center for Education Reform, a reform group that lobbies for more charter schools and school choice. “You have to create a formula for a federal grant program –perfunctory boxes are checked off.”
Duncan has used the competition to divvy up a $4.35-billion war chest of stimulus money Congress set aside for education last year. His office awarded the first $600 million to Tennessee and Delaware in late March and expects to pick at least 10 new winners in September, Duncan said.
Several states, including Georgia, lost considerable points because they failed to gain support from teacher groups and unions for proposals to tie teacher pay to test results and create new standards for teacher evaluations – measures popular with both conservatives and the administration, but loathed by unions and some Democrats. The first round’s two winners both cited unanimous union support.
Georgia still scored 433.6 out of 500 possible points in the first round, just more than 10 points behind Tennessee, which received $500 million. And although many predicted the failure of otherwise strong applications would give teachers more bargaining power, it appears to have changed little.
“We were denied,” said Jeff Hubbard, president of Georgia Association of Educators, a 40,000-member teacher advocacy group. “Without us, how are you going to make these reforms work?”
The standstill mirrors the situation in Florida, where lawmakers pressed ahead last week with several reform measures despite a furor of teacher opposition. The most controversial proposal would eliminate tenure and tie a portion of educators’ salaries to their students’ standardized test results.
The state, considered a favorite in the first round of funding, will likely need the teacher pay measure to remain competitive in the second round, said a Florida Department of Education spokesman. Local officials hope to make up for the lack of teacher buy-in by marginally boosting scores in other categories, said Tom Butler, with the state Education Department..
“Obviously union support would certainly help. We’ve known that from the start,” Butler said. “(But) we really did pretty well. We don’t want to go away from that.”
The bill now sits on Gov. Charlie Crist’s desk. The governor, currently in a tough Republican primary for the state’s open Senate seat, suggested he could veto it because of public outcry. Several state lawmakers on the other hand said they had assurances Crist would sign it and blamed the lack of popularity on misinformation.
Elsewhere, officials from other states said they will rethink their departments’ applications – though in most cases by paring down rather than bulking up.
Race to the Top’s rules limit applicants to smaller grants in round two. Meaning South Carolina, which originally requested $300 million this winter, is bound to $175 million. The state will now refocus its application on the lowest tier schools, originally only a section of its application, said South Carolina’s education chief, Jim Rex, on Friday.
“The second application won’t be a sliver of the first one,” said Rex, who at first threatened to quit the competition after South Carolina placed sixth in round one. “It will be a very different application.”
Still, “it’s a lot of money,” he said.
An Education Department spokesman declined to comment on states’ specific plans – as such is legally prohibited.
“We set a high bar, in round one with Race to the Top and we meant it,” said Justin Hamilton from Education. “This isn’t called Race to the Middle. We hope all states apply for round two.”
Applications are due June 1.