I'm sure you've been reading about the Federal award of $700M to Florida as part of the "Race to the Top" (RTT) grant program.  The state was a big winner in this, the second round of awards.  This will likely have an impact on our local Empowering Effective Teachers efforts.  When the request for proposals for RTT funding were solicited by U.S. Dept. of Education Sec. Arnie Duncan, they were designed to address many of the issues that our local Empowering Effective Teachers Initiative is already addressing.

The state DOE will now determine the formula and criteria for local school district's participation.  It's likely that some of the funding will stay with the state and the remainder will be allocated to the local districts based on their willingness to implement change.  That positions Hillsborough well, but no one knows how much that means at this point.

If you want to catch up some on RTT, here are some recent articles on it and the recent awards.  The 3rd article talks about the interesting, but not surprising, tie in between what the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wants to accomplish and RTT.

Florida wins $700 million in federal grant money.  Read more ...
 
Tampa Bay schools seeking 'Race to the Top' share.  Read more ...
 
Race to Top: Gates Backs a Bunch of Winners.  Read more ...