State vies for school money in Race to the Top

By Nancy Badertscher

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia is scrambling out of the gate in the Race to the Top, a competition in which states on the leading edge of education reform can share in a $4 billion pot of federal money.

The state is eligible for up to $400 million and is up against a Jan. 19 deadline for first-round applicants to prove they’re forward-thinking, worthy and supported by front-line educators. In seeking the latter, the state has stepped on some toes.

Race to the Top, or RT3 as some educators are calling it, is the Obama administration’s plan to reward states that have raised student performance and have a plan for accelerating achievement gains with innovative reforms that could potentially be duplicated across the country.

Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue is a big champion and says Race to the Top is “almost a Nixon-goes-to-China opportunity.”

“I think the motive is pure, and the motive is clear,” Perdue said last week. “This is about rising above the status quo and getting people fired up about doing a great job in preparing our students for the future.”

States that want a share of the Race to the Top money must document their past successes, which leaders say in Georgia include the move to a tougher statewide curriculum, the introduction of graduation coaches in middle and high schools and a rapidly expanding system of charter schools.

Applicants also have to outline how they would use the money to, among other things, turn around their lowest-performing schools and more closely tie teacher pay to student performance. States are closely guarding most of those ideas because of the competitive nature of the application process.

One idea that Perdue has let out: the potential for big teacher bonuses based on student achievement.

“I would love to get to the point where our star teachers are paid like our star athletes,” Perdue told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That’s a stretch. But should our star teachers be paid like a football coach that wins the state championship? I absolutely think so.”

The $4 billion is the most Washington has ever given to overhaul schools. It is to be awarded in two rounds in April and September. States that fail in the first round can try again, and, with $16 billion in school budget shortfalls projected for next year across the nation, most are eager to win.

Applicants are to be judged on a 500-point scoring system, and that’s where some say Georgia has lost an opportunity.

Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said the state, based on the contest rules, will be penalized for failing to involve major teacher groups.

“Sadly, the exclusion of our voices could cost Georgia’s application up to 50 points, or 10 percent, which could spell the difference between acceptance and denial in a highly competitive process,” Hubbard said.

Bert Brantley, Perdue’s spokesman, said the governor’s staff was told in Washington the rule cited by Hubbard does not apply to non-union states like Georgia.

Perdue’s office, which has taken charge of developing Georgia’s application, has had four committees meeting every two weeks since September pulling together data and detail. With the help of a $250,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the group here — and similar ones in 14 other states — also have consultants to polish their final applications.

Kathy Cox, state schools superintendent, said some of the reforms that Race to the Top requires seem to mirror what Georgia’s already done. That includes work to raise the state graduation rate, from 63.3 percent in 2003 to the current 78.9 percent, to ramp up diploma requirements and to develop a student data system, albeit slower than expected.

“I think we are one of those states that stand a very strong chance,” Cox said.

She and Perdue have different views on whether representatives of the teachers associations should have been at the table in the planning stage.

Cox said she traditionally includes Georgia Association of Educators and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators in discussions of any major education initiative. “If I had been in charge, I think the [Race to the Top] committees would have looked different,” she said.

Perdue said he rarely looks to professional associations for help, preferring to go directly to the front-line people for feedback — as the RT3 group did with an online survey that drew responses from about 20,000 teachers.

“Frankly, I find that our associations – and not just those in education – in general are typically there to represent the status quo, and it’s my belief, and I think it’s [U.S. Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan’s belief, that the status quo in education in America and in Georgia won’t cut it for the future.”

Justin Hamilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said: “Demonstrating support at the local level from school districts and education stakeholders is a key ingredient for success.”

Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said: “We are perplexed, to say the least.”

Last Monday, in a fourth-floor meeting room at the state Capitol, superintendents and school board chairmen from across the state gathered to hear from Cox and Perdue about their systems’ chances of sharing up to half of any state award, which could be $200 million to $400 million.

“I’m tired of Georgia being kicked like a dog nationally from an educational perspective,” Perdue told the gathering. “This is a race, and I want to win. Do y’all want to win?”

The governor was privy to Race to the Top in the early planning stages. Duncan pulled Perdue and a handful of other governors aside at a meeting of the National Governors Association last February to discuss President Barack Obama’s idea.

“I’m not as enthralled over some of his other policies, but this is a home run,” Perdue said.

Perdue said Georgia was already looking at more accountability in education when President George W. Bush made it a priority with No Child Left Behind.

“While there was some early resistance, most of the educators in our state have passed the resignation stage of accountability to embracing accountability as meaning good achievement for our students,” he said. “Culturally, emotionally, we are prepared to take the next step, and that’s to innovate and to create new ideas and new ways of educating students that will have an improved outcome.”

Cox said that, with major budget cuts looming, the money is welcome, though she’s cautious about the strings that come with it.

“I don’t want this carrot of money to allow the federal government to take over education, when states are so desperate.”

Perdue said he’s comfortable with the expectations that Obama and Duncan have set for those who receive the money.

“Nobody, except Santa Claus, is going to give you money for nothing, and you’ve got to be good to get Santa Claus.”

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Funding ranges

States have been put in funding ranges*

Category 1—$350 million-$700 million: California, Texas, New York, Florida

Category 2—$200 million-$400 million: Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey

Category 3—$150 million-$250 million: Virginia, Arizona, Indiana, Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin

Category 4—$60 million-$175 million: Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Connecticut, Utah, Mississippi, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Nevada

Category 5—$20 million-$75 million: New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, District of Columbia

* Based in part on each state’s share of the national population of children ages 5 to 17. These are nonbinding.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Who wants the money?

Here’s a list of states that have submitted a letter of intent to compete in Round 1 of Race to the Top, but that doesn’t mean they will apply:

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Utah

Virginia

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming