Stunning. We don’t know how else to put it.
Not just the New York State Board of Regents’ announcement today that it fully intends to be competitive in President Obama’s “Race To The Top” contest with a comprehensive reform package. (As a New Yorker whose kids attend NYC public schools, I was perplexed for months as to why we seemed so willing to walk away from hundreds of millions of dollars at a time when school budgets are being slashed all over – especially since the reforms needed to win shouldn’t be considered remotely controversial if you really think about them.)
What is stunning is the tremendous wave of edu-political reform which has been unleashed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the Obama administration in such a short time.
The president was swept into office by a strong demand for change. But who would have guessed that in less than one year we would be looking at such significant coast-to-coast policy changes at the state level. (And thanks to Charlie Barone, our federal policy guru/spiritual advisor/occasional disc jockey for keeping tabs on the RTTP landscape.)
Consider what is happening in all of these states:
California. California had been on the move. In August, the state legislature moved quickly in special session to tear down the firewall between student achievement and teacher evaluation. In November, the state Senate passed Gloria Romero’s education reform plan, backed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, that would: let parent petitions shut down or convert failing schools; establish a rigorous teacher and principal evaluation system; and let parents move their children out of failing districts.
Last week, the state Assembly passed a much weaker bill that Schwarzenegger says he would veto, commenting: “This is a Race to the Top, not a race to mediocrity or the status quo.” The NAACP has sided with Romero and the Governor, as has an LA based advocacy group “Parent Revolution.”
Connecticut. Duncan’s comments at a conference saying that states that hampered charter schools would not be competitive sparked Connecticut in June to reverse its decision to cut charter school budgets; it also moved to fully restore charter school funding.
Colorado. In the Spring, Gov Bill Ritter appointed Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien to serve as “Race To The Top Czar.” She has held numerous hearings and has toured the state. Colorado is building on the performance pay system it pioneered a few years back in Denver, and the fact that it’s charter schools are some of the best performing in the country. Its poised to have a very strong application and is on the short list for those with a good chance of approval in Phase 1.