South Kitsap will join many school districts from across the state in applying for Race to the Top grants.
Grants are awarded to states and the deadline for the second phase is June 1. If the proposals from Washington schools are selected, SKSD superintendent Dave LaRose said it would provide the district about $860,000 over four years. Gov. Christine Gregoire is behind the effort.
“Those are dollars in this economy we could invest wisely that could have positive impacts on teaching and learning in our district,” LaRose said. “Knowing that our teachers association recognized some potential benefits from that and our school board did … we felt that it made sense.”
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s website, the program is designed “to reward states that are leading the way in comprehensive, coherent, statewide education reform across four key areas.”
Those include developing standards and assessments that prepare students for future success; building data systems that enhance student achievement, and informing teachers and principals on ways to improve; recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining effective teachers and principals; and fixing their lowest-performing schools.
The District of Columbia and 40 states applied for the grant during its initial phase, but only Delaware and Tennessee were selected.
“Both states have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their schools,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a news release. “They have written new laws to support their policies. And they have demonstrated the courage, capacity and commitment to turn their ideas into practices that can improve outcomes for students.”
All but 44 districts in Washington have signed on to the program. That does not mean there are not concerns, though.
South Kitsap Education Association president Judy Arbogast cited another standards-based education reform, No Child Left Behind, which has been controversial.
“We’re very leery of some of the things behind it,” Arbogast said. “It’s pretty impossible to reach every child when you’re competing for the money that everybody should be getting.”
She also views it as a one-size-fits-all approach to education. Arbogast said she is concerned that the program might “pit teachers against each other for a few dollars.”
“Somebody has decided that these are the measures you need to reach to receive these grants,” she said. “I’m not so sure they’re the right things we need to be working for, especially if we’re reaching every child. It’s kind of counterintuitive to me.”
LaRose said if Washington is awarded the grant, SKSD officials will work with SKEA and the school board to develop a plan.
Because the deadline has not come, he said SKSD still is in the planning stages.
If the state is notified that it has been awarded the grant, LaRose said SKSD would have 90 days to develop a plan under Race to the Top’s parameters. He said that likely will be determined in August.
