Wisconsin Lagging in Race For Education Funding

January 4, 2010

<p& gt;As Gov. Jim Doyle's office prepares to put the final touches on Wisconsin's application for a slice of $4 billion in federal school grants, state legislators will hold a public hearing in Milwaukee Tuesday on two bills that could make or break Wisconsin's chances of winning the nationwide competition.

The education reform bills – one that would give Milwaukee’s mayor the power to head Milwaukee Public Schools and another that would give the state superintendent more authority to turn around low-performing schools – will be open for public comment Tuesday at the MPS central office in a hearing hosted by the state Senate Education Committee.

Doyle has said for months that the measures are necessary to put Wisconsin in a good position for winning a piece of the $4 billion Race to the Top competition. But both proposals have faced opposition, and it’s unclear if the state Legislature will vote on either of them before the Jan. 19 first-round grant application deadline.

Meanwhile, other states are successfully passing last-minute education reform measures as they try to take advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars in extra education funding, and that may eclipse Wisconsin’s efforts, said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.

"As good as things looked a month or two ago for states like Wisconsin (which passed four education reform bills in November), Wisconsin is now in a position where, if it doesn’t take some drastic steps on things like mayoral control, it’s going to be hard for them to make a strong case," said Williams, whose group has been tracking states’ efforts in Race to the Top maneuvering.

Per the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines, the applications require states to outline goals for improving education and to provide evidence that they’ve already taken steps to raise the level of s tudent achievement. Some of the key areas for states to focus on include a comprehensive approach to raising academic standards, the ability to shake up how teachers are compensated and evaluated, and the willingness to close and/or significantly reform bad schools.

Williams said some states have been particularly ambitious about building support for Race to the Top, such as Colorado, which appointed a "Race to the Top czar" who worked to gain input from teachers unions, legislators and the public.

New York has come from behind as a state with very low chances in the competition to one that’s plowing through a lot of reforms, Williams said.

"Every time one state does something particularly ambitious, it makes it harder for other states," Williams said.

The grant application guidelines don’t explicitly require mayoral control in cities, or a stronger state superintendent. But Doyle and his supporters believe such measures are significant reforms that will shake up the status quo and earn the state points for trying something different, a point a Doyle spokesman reiterated when contacted for comment about Tuesday’s hearing.

Opponents of the bills are generally wary of concentrating too much power with the mayor and the state superintendent, and believe the state can put in a strong application without the reforms.

John Johnson, spokesman for the state Department of Public Instruction, said putting together a strong package for Race to the Top is the governor’s priority.

"The timeline is short, so there’s a lot of urgency here and a lot of folks working on it," Johnson said.

Wisconsin qualifies for receiving between $150 million and $250 million through Race to the Top, should it receive a grant, and school distr icts that want to use part of that money must sign and return a memorandum of understanding to the state by Jan. 13.

Scott Jones, special assistant to state Superintendent Tony Evers, said the letters require districts to commit to statewide reform efforts.

The federal government is expected to announce the first round of grant winners in April. States that lose may reapply for the second grant application deadline in July.

Williams said for states that don’t receive grants in the first round, the federal government will respond with details about why the state lost.

"We’ve been told that if a state is very close, they will make it clear that they are very close so the state can use that to fight the next round of battles," Williams said.