Millions of dollars at stake, but some schools opt out

MIDDDLETOWN — The federal government has fired the starting gun for an educational “Race to the Top,” with thousands of dollars waiting for the winners. But a number of local districts decided not to show up at the starting line.

Badin, Lakota, Madison, Middletown and Ross are among the 57 percent of Ohio public school districts opting out of the grant competition. Some districts are not on board because their teachers unions have a problem with a provision that ties their pay to student performance.

The Ohio Department of Education announced Jan. 12 that the state was preparing its application to potentially receive up to $400 million in federal stimulus dollars for the grant program. And President Barack Obama said he’ll ask Congress for more than $1 billion in fiscal 2011 to continue the project.

“The ‘Race to the Top’ grant provides Ohio with an opportunity to compete for federal funds that will help us further the education reform initiatives outlined by Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly in (the state budget),” said Deborah Delisle, state superintendent of public instruction.

For some local districts, the opportunity for additional funds is too tempting to ignore during tough economic times.

“An administrative team reviewed the grant and realized that we already are doing a lot of it and it was a good fit for our district,” said Hamilton Schools spokeswoman Joni Copas.

But other districts ticked off numerous reasons for not filing the paperwork.

“(The application) required the signatures of Madison’s key stakeholders, including the superintendent, school board president, and teachers’ union president,” said Madison Local Schools spokeswoman A.J. Huff. “At the deadline for submission, the Madison Local School District did not have the endorsement of all necessary parties in order to move forward.”

Strings attached to money worries schools

The federal government would like to award thousands of dollars in grant money to local school districts facing state budget cuts. But some Butler County school officials say the federal “Race to the Top” grant initiative is not worth the trouble of the application.

The program, which is estimated to cost more than $4 billion, is being funded by federal stimulus dollars, which many worry is a limited source. But President Barack Obama said he intends to ask Congress for an additional $1.3 billion next year to keep the fund going.

Teachers, however, are concerned this funding won’t be approved and question what that could mean to continuing any new programs created by the initiative.

“Because this is one-time ‘soft money,’ we are worried about what will happen when the money disappears,” said Suzanne Larsen, president of the Middletown Teachers Association. “Our history is that when grant money has dried up, innovations go away.”

Each of the 266 Ohio public schools on Ohio’s application to the U.S. Department of Education for up to $400 million in federal aid signed a document called a memorandum of understanding, promising to follow 22 requirements. The superintendent, school board and teachers’ union had to commit to the plan.

Within the grant application was a memorandum of understanding outlining the initiative’s long list of guidelines which, government officials say, will help raise student achievement by standardizing what they learn in the classroom.

“Fifty different states doing their own thing has led to the dumbing down of our schools,” said Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education. “ ‘Race to the Top’ encourages collaboration to reverse this trend.”

Peggy McCluskey, Edgewood curriculum director, said her district sought the money because it already was embracing many of the changes the initiative is encouraging, such as changes in student assessment and teacher collaboration. However, she added there are still some reservations.

“Part of us felt we would be crazy not to try for additional funds,” McCluskey said. “But we just don’t know exactly how much we’re talking about here, and there could be some issues with teacher contracts in the future. We will see what happens.”

While the state could receive anywhere from $200 million to $400 million over a four-year period, it is not clear how much of that would trickle down to local districts.

Half of Ohio’s money would go to its Department of Education to start new programs and improve existing programs related to statewide reform. From there, the state would then decide how to divide the money based on how many students qualify for Title I funds — which is determined by the number of low-income students, per-pupil expenditures and children needing assistance in language arts and math skills.

The vague funding formula and the program’s desire to link teacher evaluation and compensation to student performance worries many local educators.

“The Madison Education Association did not feel that we could endorse the ‘Race to the Top’ grant initiative,” said Tina Bowling, Madison Education Association president. “We found that the memorandum of understanding left many unclear expectations and the potential to adversely impact the negotiated collective bargaining agreement. In our current position, as a district rated ‘excellent’ by the Ohio Department of Education, the MEA didn’t feel as though the ‘Race to the Top’ initiative was the right fit to move our district to the next level.”

Larsen said studies show connecting teacher compensation and student test scores is not only unfair, but also unreliable.

“When it comes to these tests, we’re talking about a two-and-half-hour window to perform,” Larsen said. “If something happens either before or during the test, and the student doesn’t perform well, that is something we don’t have control over and doesn’t necessarily demonstrate a student’s ability.”

Ross Schools Superintendent Greg Young said he and the school board president were prepared to sign off on the agreement, but the Ross Education Association executive committee was against it, not only because of the possibility of linking student performance and pay, but also because it required teachers to be evaluated every year.

“This is contradictory to most negotiated contracts where only beginning teachers are evaluated every year,” Young said. “More experienced teachers tend to be evaluated every three to five years depending on the district.”

But, with Madison and Middletown asking voters to approve levies in the near future, should districts feel an obligation to take advantage of any funding available?

Madison spokeswoman and grant writer A.J. Huff said it’s not that simple.

“We never want to turn down funds,” Huff said. “Because this grant was presented directly to superintendents, it has had more public spotlight. But I see hundreds of grant applications cross my desk and not all of them are a good fit. We felt ‘Race to the Top’ was simply not a good fit because of the uncertainty and contract concerns. Madison continues to look for other funding opportunities beyond this.”

Larsen said asking for a levy and applying for this grant are two separate issues.

“It’s very important to have enough funds to have quality programming,” she said. “Quite honestly, the money we would have likely wound up with would not have made a dent in what we need. Without the levy on the ballot, we are going to have to make some difficult decisions.”

The U.S. Department of Education plans to notify states about their application status by April.