(From The New York Post, July 28, 2010)
By CHARLES BARONE
New York deserves a (preliminary) round of applause. After months of uncertainty, the Obama administration announced yesterday that the state is a finalist in the second round of Race to the Top, a competition for federal education money where states are rewarded for ambitious and workable plans to fundamentally improve their public schools. Our state stands to receive as much as $700 million in federal education aid.
“Ambitious” and “workable” aren’t two words a lot of people associate with government these days — so special recognition is due to New York officials, who courageously sent a bold and innovative reform package to President Obama.
These leaders stood up for New York’s kids by raising the cap on public charter schools, designing a new evaluation system that measures teachers and principals on performance and student achievement and developing a comprehensive data system to see where our schools are succeeding and where they are falling short. Yesterday’s success proves that all the hard work was worth it — and that we don’t have to accept anything less than excellence for New York’s students and schools.
Race to the Top is a reaction to decades of ineffective education policies that have failed to close the achievement gap and create schools that prepare children for college or a career. The premise behind the contest is simple: Instead of throwing money at programs that have proven to fail, reward only those states that can prove they’re going to shake things up and put their children on a path to success. The results of this race are encouraging.
But the hard work New York has done to get this far will be wasted if the state doesn’t put together a strong final presentation for the Race to the Top judges and bring home the $700 million.
The US Department of Education has let it be known that the state must credibly assure the judges that public charter schools in New York will be funded equitably. Public charters like the Harlem Success Academies and the network of public schools run by the Knowledge is Power Program are doing what had once been deemed impossible: closing the pernicious achievement gap between New York’s low-income neighborhoods and affluent suburbs. Now that they’ve earned the privilege of expanding to accommodate the thousands of children on their waiting lists, they also deserve funding parity with every other public school.
No one should be fooled into thinking that reforming an education system as large as New York’s will be easy. Reform is an uphill battle, and there will always be those interested in maintaining the failing status quo. But it’s clear that the tides are turning in favor of change.
Let’s make sure Albany clears Race to the Top’s last hurdle. Equitable funding for charter schools is a modest but essential requirement, and one that has the potential to pay huge dividends for the state. If there was ever a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for New York’s public schools, this is it.
So while we take a moment to celebrate New York making it this far in the Race to the Top, let’s not forget to never stop working until every child in every neighborhood has a shot at a quality education. Finishing what we started with Race to the Top is only the beginning.
Charles Barone is the federal policy director at Democrats for Education Reform.