LITTLE ROCK — State and local education leaders are racing to meet a Jan. 19 application deadline for millions of dollars in federal funds.
The federal Race to the Top fund is one of the components of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that is meant to simultaneously bolster the nation’s sagging economy as well as improve student achievement.
The $4.35 billion fund would “reward states that have raised student performance in the past and have the capacity to accelerate achievement gains with innovative reforms,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Arkansas’ potential share is in the range of $60 million to $175 million, according to a U.S. Department of Education estimate that is based on the number of Arkansans ages 5 to 17 in proportion to that population nationwide. However, states can apply for more than their estimated share, according to the federal guidelines.
The Jan. 19 application deadline comes just after the Nov. 12 release of the application regulations and the Christmas vacation season.
The deadline has caused state education policymakers to ask local superintendents, school board presidents and teacher association leaders to commit to some broad program concepts for grant funding. The details would be filled in later.
Between Nov. 23 and Dec. 15, the Arkansas Department of Education hosted seven forums in locations such as North Little Rock, Farmington, Jonesboro and Monticello to solicit ideas on how to use potential grant funds.
On Dec. 17, the state Education Department sent the state’s 244 school districts and 18 charter schools a “preliminary draft memorandum of understanding” that is intended to give school system leaders some idea of what they must commit to - in areas such as education standards, student testing, teacher training, teacher evaluations, teacher compensation, data collection and research - if they want to share in any of the grant money the state receives.
“This gives them a scope of work,” Heather Gage, a special assistant to Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell, said about the draft. “If the school districts and charter schools have any comments, if there is something they feel we are missing, if there is something they just have heartburn about - this is the time to give feedback.”
The Arkansas grant application is expected to include provisions to address the needs of the state’s lowest achieving schools, to ease the use of student data systems to improve instruction and to put into place a common core of education standards and tests as adopted by the state Board of Education.
Teacher training programs and employee evaluation systems would be strengthened as a way to improve achievement.
Gordon Floyd, deputy superintendent in the Fort Smith School District, said Fort Smith district officials fully support the goals that the Race to the Top embodies.
The Fort Smith district already has in place some of the programs and initiatives that are likely to be part of the basis for grant funding. Those include efforts to increase the number of high school students in upper-level math and science classes, as well as the use of student data to improve instruction.
But Floyd said district leaders do have concerns.
“The memorandum of understanding is pretty ambiguous in terms of exactly what the requirements for a school district would be - what our obligations would be under the various provisions,” Floyd said. “It’s a pig in a poke, so to speak. The requirements of it are not specific enough for us to really know what we would be signing on to.”
The memorandum, for example, indicates that much attention would be given to schools in the lowest 5 percent in terms of achievement. Districts would have to select from among four models for improving those schools.
Floyd questioned how that 5 percent is calculated and how closely a 5 percent school would have to conform to the models that call for replacing principals and faculty members at the troubled schools.
“On a practical basis, that is easier said than done,” Floyd said about removing staff. “And it makes the assumption that all the teachers are bad in schools that have low scores. We would say we are already putting pretty strong teachers in schools that have the biggest challenges.
“Right now, there are more questions than answers,” he said.
Cathy Koehler, presidentof the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association, said her association’s board of directors instructed her not to sign any memorandum that includes a provision for tying student achievement to teacher pay.
“This application is very troubling,” Koehler said, adding that the state would be better served by skipping the Jan. 19 deadline and submitting, instead, its application by a second deadline, which is June 1.
“We could have done what New Jersey is doing and say, ‘We want to take our time. We want to make sure we have given this adequate thought,’” Koehler said. “Even Secretary Duncan has said this is only seed money, so we need to make sure that whatever we begin we will be able to continue it when the federal money is gone.”
The scope of work that accompanied the draft memorandum said districts wouldagree, if asked, to participate in “a differentiated compensation system” - which could include merit pay.
Gage said that the responses from the local leaders to the draft memorandum will influence how the revised memorandum and the actual grant application is written. The revised memorandum will go to district and teacher leaders Monday for signing by Jan. 8.
“We can spell it out so that the program is manageable,” Gage said about the state proposal to the federal government. “We don’t want to put anything in the application that we know on the front end is going to fail.
“We want to make sure that what we are doing will help school districts. That is what this grant application is all about: How do we provide the support that school districts need?”
As of Wednesday, department officials pulled the differentiated teacher compensation study from the memorandum but are keeping it as part of the application, Gage said.
“This confused the districts into thinking that if they sign the memorandum that they have to participate,” she said. “We are just looking for a sample of districts to help us research this issue and we will work on that when we receive the grant.”
The revised memorandum that will go out Monday will still be considered a preliminary plan for the districts, Gage said.
“The details will come after we are approved,” she said. “We do not want to treat each district with a broad brush or pretend that one size fits all. We will work with each district after we receive the grant to put a plan together that will detail the elements that they have agreed to participate in by signing the preliminary MOU [memorandum of understanding].” While some states have sought legislative changes in education law to enhance their eligibility for the Race to the Top funds, Gage said she doesn’t envision that occurring in Arkansas.
“I do not believe that we will be putting anything in the application that will require legislative changes,” she said. “We are trying to focus on building on the success of the policies that have been put into place over the last several years.”
States receiving Race to the Top grants based on the Jan. 19 applications will be announced in April.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/31/2009