State will compete against 17 other states and D.C. for $3.4 billion in federal education funds
(From The Baltimore Sun, July 27th, 2010)
By Liz Bowie
Maryland is one of 19 finalists in a national competition for federal education funding that prompted leaders to revamp the state’s school agenda in hopes of getting as much as $250 million in the next year.
“I can barely contain myself,” said Nancy S. Grasmick, the state superintendent of schools. “We are so excited because there was tremendous work that went into this and it has such potential for our schools.”
To make the state more competitive for Race to the Top, Maryland has changed laws governing teacher tenure and evaluations, adopted new curriculum standards and promised to overhaul its system of improving the lowest-achieving schools.
However, Maryland was considered something of an unknown by some education observers because it was one of only a handful of states that did not submit an application last winter during the first round, in which Delaware and Tennessee were chosen the winners.
In the second round, 36 states participated and Maryland was one of the few chosen that had not been a finalist before. The winners will be announced in September.
Baltimore City stands to gain the most from the federal Race to the Top competition, which will distribute $3.4 billion to states that are chosen. The city is projected to get $46.8 million; Prince George’s, $20.9 million; Baltimore County, $15.4 million; Anne Arundel, $6.1 million; and Harford, $2.6 million.
When asked why Maryland had been picked, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that the state had made significant changes recently and that “by some metrics, you can make the case that Maryland is the highest-performing state in the country.”
In addition to Maryland, the finalists are: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
Early next month, a state delegation that will include Grasmick, Gov. Martin O’Malley, Prince George’s County Superintendent William R. Hite and two State Department of Education staffers will go to Washington to be grilled by a panel of reviewers about their plans for reforms. The interview process could make a difference in the outcome because the states are scored on various topics and judges will add or subtract points after the process.
Grasmick said Hite and city schools chief Andres Alonso, the superintendents of the two districts that would receive the most money, were considered as part of the delegation. She said Hite was chosen over Alonso because Prince George’s is a much larger district with a high percentage of both minority and English-language learners. In addition, the district is moving ahead with a system of paying its teachers for performance. And Alonso and the Baltimore reforms are already known in Washington, she said.
In a phone news conference with reporters Tuesday, Duncan said there was a “quiet revolution going on in education” and that Race to the Top “had unleashed an avalanche of education reform at the state level.”
Enough money remains, he said, to fund the reforms in 10 to 15 states. As part of the selection process, Duncan said, reviewers will look closely at how able each state is to live up to the promises in its application.
“It is difficult to read too much into who is a finalist because we don’t know what the scores are,” said Timothy Daly, president of the New Teacher Project and a former Baltimore City middle school teacher.
All states that made the list of finalists scored at least 400 out of 500 points, but the scores won’t be revealed until after the final selections are made in September. Because Maryland didn’t participate in the first round, it is difficult to tell where its scores stand among the finalists.
Maryland’s application was weakened by the lack of support by teachers’ unions and the failure of any Montgomery County officials to sign on. Only Baltimore and Prince George’s teachers agreed to support the state bid.
Charles Barone, director of federal policy at the Democrats for Education Reform, a political action committee that advocates for reform, said that Maryland should score well on teacher effectiveness because it has some of the most progressive laws and regulations now on the books. But Maryland, Arizona and Hawaii are considered somewhat unknowns, he said. Florida, Louisiana, Rhode Island and Colorado did well last time and would be expected to do so again.
Michael Petrilli, vice president for national policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, believes the selection of Maryland and Ohio may have been politically motivated because the governors are in tight election races.
“I don’t think that you can make the case that 21 states are moving aggressively on education reform,” he said, referring to the 19 finalists and two winners in the last round.