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School boards across Fairfield County have been deciding whether or not to sign on to the states application for Race to the Top Funding, the Obama Administrations $4.35 billion education reform grant. A memorandum of understanding for Round II is due today, May 19. Connecticut stands to win as much as $175 million in federal funds if selected. Just this week, Westport, Darien, Fairfield, Wilton and Weston have all decided to participate. New Canaan and Norwalk had already signed on for Round I in January.
Much of the grant is geared toward disadvantaged school districts in the state. Affluent, high achieving districts (many did not sign on in Round 1) have been evaluating whether they have enough to gain by signing on to the states application this time. Connecticuts application was rejected in the first round of Race to the Top, placing 25 out of 40 states. In this second round, Commissioner of Education Mark McQuillan is pushing for all districts to sign on to the Race to the Top application--approximately half signed on last time-- because it increases the state's chance of getting the grant. In addition, the Commissioner has increased the amount of funding allocated to smaller districts with low poverty rates. A town like Darien, for example, is now eligible for $140,000 over four years.
In addition, new laws were passed this month by the Connecticut General Assembly in order to align the states next application-- due in June--with Race to the Top goals of 1) improving teacher effectiveness, 2) creating better assessments aligned to rigorous standards, 3) fixing failing schools, or 4) using data systems to track student achievement. These new laws have changed the equation for many school districts.
Darien BOE Chair Kimberly Westcott said there has been a lot of chatter about RTTT among the area's board chairs. The Board felt that it was important to be part of the conversation. Many aspects of the law are a work in progress.
Darien Superintendent Donald Fiftal supports the grant but is concerned about the scope of participation. Here in New England, we are independent-minded and pride ourselves on local control of our schools. We have to be careful this program does not impede a district like Darien.
Westcott agreed, In high performing districts like Darien we take a lot of pride in our curriculum and we like the way we teach. There cant be a one size fit all solution.
During a recent Fairfield BOE meeting, Superintendent Ann Clark said that Fairfield will be required by law to implement changes like increased high school graduation requirements and tying teacher evaluations to student program whether they are part of the grant application or not. We might as well get some money for it."
We are already doing many of the things in the application, like data improvement initiatives, said Clark. And the ones that we are not doing, we will be required to do by law. At this point there is no downside. The new law has changed everything."
Districts are worried about the cost of the new laws since there are no guarantees that Connecticut will win funding, and even if it does, the funds are unlikely to be enough to cover all the new requirements. There is a feeling here that this is an unfunded mandate, said Westcott.
New Canaan is an exception among its peer school districts because it chose to sign on to the application in Round I. I see it as important way to support the state and show solidarity, said New Canaan Superintendent David Abbey.
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