State Legislation on Education May Pressure City Ed Budget

Although Connecticut didn't win the the first t round of Race to the Top funding from the federal Dept. of Education (CT placed 25th) that's not stopping officials from trying to win some money in the second round.

As part of that effort state legislators are tryin to align CT's education policy with the goals of Race to the Top.  According to an article in the  CT Mirror new  legislation under consideration this week in Hartford would:

• Increase high school graduation requirements, including additional credits in mathematics, science and foreign language.
• Create a teacher evaluation system based in part on measurement of student progress. The evaluations also would take into account a range of other factors, including class size and student characteristics such as socioeconomic status and English language proficiency.
• Remove enrollment limits on charter schools.
• Implement a fast-track system for training and licensing school principals similar to the state's long-running alternate route to certification system for teachers.
• Improve the state's data collection system to allow better measurement of student progress and teacher performance.

There is an intense debate between educators, reform advocates, and union officials on the merits of each of these initiatives. One thing however is certain -- each these initiatives will all cost a lot of money.

While I certainly support in principle many of these proposals, I wonder where the money is going to come from to implement them if we don't win a Race to the Top grant? Will we then repeal the legislation or will they simply be delayed year after year like in-school suspension?

Increased graduation requirements is a good thing, but it may means hiring more teachers. Here in Norwalk we're talking about cutting programs not expanding them.  It seems that our desire to improve education is bigger than our actual means of doing so.

What do you think? Can Norwalk afford the changes being proposed?

CT Unlikely to Get "Race to the Top Money" from Feds

Connecticut is unlikely to receive any of the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" funds that are a part of President Obama's economic stimulus plan unless it changes some of its laws says one education expert.

Alex Johnston, President of the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) an education advocacy organization based in New Haven, said that the state's policies capping charter school funding and its rules on the certification of teachers do not match federal guidelines. In addition Connecticut has not set up a system that allows student test score to be linked to teacher evaluations as federal law requires, he said.

The "Race to the Top" program was announced by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in late July. States can apply for money to fund programs that 1) improve teacher effectiveness, 2) create better assessments aligned to rigorous standards, 3) fix failing schools, or 4) use data systems to track student achievement.

"Connecticut must change its policies to become competitive for these funds," said Mr. Johnston. "The federal government is providing states with incentives to adopt its approach to education."

The proposed selection criteria released by the Department of Education have clear requirements of what a state must do to qualify for funding. A threshold requirement is that a state must not have any legal barrier to linking student achievement data to teacher and principal evaluations.

While Connecticut does not have any such prohibitions Johnston said the state Department of Education lacks an adequate data system that can support this implementation. In particular he said that Connecticut does not have a teacher ID system that matches teachers to students and it does not have the capacity to communicate with college data systems to track outcomes back to high school performance.

The guidelines also require that Connecticut allow alternative routes to certification for teachers and principals. This runs counter to legislation that was passed just this year which would require teachers being certified after 2012 to have not only an undergraduate degree but also to complete 30 hours of graduate coursework.

On the question of charter schools, the guidance also indicates that states will be judged on “the extent to which the State has a charter school law that does not prohibit or effectively inhibit increasing the number of charter schools in the State or otherwise restrict student enrollment in charter schools…[and] the extent to which the State’s charter schools receive equitable funding with non-charter schools and a commensurate share of local, State, and Federal program and revenue sources”

Johnston said Connecticut's legislative framework for charter schools fails on all of these counts.

NorwalkNet contacted the State Department of Education for their perspective. Thomas Murphy a spokesperson for the State Department of Education responded in an e-mail, "We are preparing an application for Race to the Top funding." (I will attempt to contact Mr. Murphy again to get a better response).

Given the number of changes that have to be made Connecticut's laws it seems unlikely that state will be successful for "Race to the Top" funds in Phase 1 of the program. The deadline for applications will be in late 2009. The possibility remains however that the state can overhaul its educational policies to apply for Phase 2 which opens in Spring 2010.