As a component of President Obama’s 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an education-funding initiative called Race To The Top was created. Race To The Top uses a point system to discern who should get a portion of the $4 billion budget. Only states that build a certain
number of “points” could be funded in one of the two rounds of funding. With the winners of round 1 announced, many schools are racing to get the exact same day cash loans they might get if they win round 2.
How Race To The Top works
Race To The Top created a scoring system for
school reforms based on 500 points. Most state education policy reforms net between 10 and 40 points, with the highest being 58. Making education funding a priority is worth 10 points. Showing a progressively diminishing achievement gap is worth 30 points. If the state has universal achievement standards, they get 40 points. Forty-one districts – 40 states and the District of Columbia – have chosen to compete. Awards to schools are based on student population, and are ultimately determined by the Department of Education.
Winners of Race To The Top: Round 1
In the first round of Race To The Top awards, only two states were awarded cash. Delaware and Tennessee will both get Race To The Top money.
. Education Secretary Arne Duncan recognized that with only two schools being awarded money in the Race To The Top competition, many states were left out. However, he also claimed that he hopes it will “light a fire” in statehouses across the nation. It turns out that support of teachers’ unions for the reforms were the deciding factor for these two states.
Desperate for
Round 2 Race To The Top
Although they created the program,
Congressional members left it with comparatively few rules and regulations. Arne Duncan has adopted a “judged”
point system that weighs a state’s own reforms with the point system created for Race To The Top. Tying student achievement to a principal or teacher’s performance is one worry of many states. Many other states have said they’re very concerned that with so much money to lend, the government is nevertheless sentencing state education budgets to suffer. With huge spending budget deficits, most states cut education funding
first. Round 2 winners can be announced in June, when Race To The Top will
disburse more of its $ 3 billion remaining.
