E.V. Districts Seek Race to the Top Grants

February 8, 2010

Feb. 7–There’s a lot of money to be had under the federal government’s Race to the Top program — $4.3 billion in competitive grants nationwide.

Arizona is among more than 40 states vying for the federal dollars. The state’s application for phase one was turned in Jan. 11. School districts were required to sign agreements to receive any funds Arizona would receive.

East Valley school districts signed on to the measure, with Queen Creek, Higley, Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert unified districts all submitting applications.

They joined about 80 percent of all Arizona schools that signed the agreement.

It’s unclear how much the districts will get if Arizona is successful with its application to receive $250 million.

Federal law mandates that 50 percent of the funds awarded to the state be "subgranted" to districts and charter schools.

Phase one grants will be announced in April.

There are four areas the state grant application focuses on: standards and testing; great teachers; a "data warehouse" of information that links to higher education, preschool and the work force; and building a way to support struggling schools.

Those are the broad-reaching goals of the grant.

The details, however, have had some schoolteachers worried about what it means for their future.

That was very clear during a Gilbert Unified School District board meeting in January when teachers said they want to be involved in the district’s application of any goals it has to set to receive the funds.

Teachers asked what additional "expectations and responsibilities" may be required of them.

The district and the teachers’ union agreed to form a joint committee to work together on the ideas as they become more clear.

The group representing Mesa Unified School District teachers said it’s also working to form a joint committee to work on the teacher evaluation plan — a critical piece of the state’s grant application.

According to information released by the state, to qualify for funds school districts must create evaluations that base 50 percent of a teacher’s score on student progress.

Kirk Hinsey, president of the Mesa Education Association teachers’ union, compared the Race to the Top’s teacher evaluation requirement to when voters approved pay-for-performance money in 2000, and the district and teachers came up with a viable plan.

"There are many unanswered questions about this grant, but there were also many unanswered questions about the payfor-performance plans that were developed after passage of Prop. 301 back in 2000.

We were able to work through that and have a system that may not be perfect but does reward schools and their staffs for reaching academic goals," he said.

Those academic goals could be key again with the Race to the Top plan.

Queen Creek Unified School District assistant superintendent Tom Lindsey said he sat through the state’s Webinar in January to get more information.

Although there were no public teacher or administrative concerns made at school board meetings that month, when the board discussed Race to the Top, board member Monica Cavanaugh said she hopes the state will "help us put together&am p;quot; the required data.

Queen Creek school board President Jeff Black said the fund sounds like a "kind of a wait-and-see" situation, since the state isn’t sure if it will be accepted yet into the program.

The Arizona Board of Regents has recently signed an agreement that will help the state in the "data warehouse" requirement for the grant. Beginning later this year, the Regents will be able to track about 90 percent of Arizona’s high school graduates who attend two-year and four-year post-secondary education, from trade schools to private and public universities nationwide.

"It will allow us to see where students are being successful and where they’re not," said Katie Paquet, spokeswoman for the board.