On Tuesday, the House and Senate education committees held a joint meeting to continue the conversation on the second go-around on the Race to the Top (RTTT) federal grant program. The blame game continues to escalate.
Pawlenty claims that teacher quality must be addressed to competer in the second application and this would be done by adopting his reforms which include stricter admission standards for teacher preparation programs, alternative teacher licensure, tying teacher performance and pay to student growth, eliminate tenure, etc. He wants the legislature to pass his reforms as stated in SF3373 and outlined in this article. He is putting pressure on Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union, to stop resisting these changes and sign support for the second application.
The teachers union responds by pointing out closing the achievement gap is much more complicated than that . . . the state should invest in research-proven methods to increase student achievement such as extended time, ECFE, all-day K, early intervention, targeted services, etc. They contend that to intervene with kids who live in unstable home environments and do not come to school ready to learn requires state resources in education and support services. They seem determined to resist changes to the status quo pertaining to teacher quality.
The DFL controlled legislature is not real found of being told what to do by the governor and have their own ideas of what should be included in the next RTTT. And so it goes . . .
I am skeptical of the RTTT program, concerned that even if Minnesota does win the competitive grant, the short-term funding that the state would receive would not cover the costs to implement the policy. Let's have the conversation about ways to give our school districts more flexibility in hiring and retaining quality teachers. And yes, further discussions about the challenges facing our students that persistently underachieve can be productive. However, perhaps we should demand that the federal government fully pay for its existing mandates such as Special Education and Title-1, which costs our schools millions in general education funds to maintain, before we start competing for another potential unfunded federal mandate.
