(From Crain’s Insider, April 9, 2010)
By ERIK ENGQUIST and DANIEL MASSEY
President Obama has said teacher unions cannot stand in the way of education reform, but he gave them a way to do just that in his Race to the Top contest. The contradiction helped doom New York’s initial application for $803 million in federal money, and could come into play again as the state applies for $700 million.
Bids were scored partly on how much labor support they had, so unions could sabotage them by withholding endorsements. The New York Times reported online that union representatives signed on to the state’s application in only 61% of districts. Union support was 100% and 93% in the two states that won grants. The United Federation of Teachers was a major holdout.
Unions are wary of Race to the Top because it promotes charter schools and calls for reforming the way that teachers are evaluated. New York’s evaluation system is primitive: Teachers are deemed satisfactory or unsatisfactory by principals. The White House would like tenure and salary decisions to reflect a more nuanced process that considers student test scores.
Charter schools are a sticking point because they’re mostly nonunion. Unions also say that charters pick off students who are easier to teach. But they are willing to amend their admission lotteries to draw more special-education students and new English speakers, says Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a political action committee that supports Race to the Top.
Race to the Top also demands better data analysis. New York lacks a statewide system to track student performance over time. New York City has such a system, but exporting it to the other 57 counties would be complicated.
In addition, Gov. Paterson hasn’t sold reforms to a recalcitrant Legislature, which assumed that the imperfect New York application would be awarded funds. “We don’t have a functioning governor right now,” an insider says.