That Washington
Gregoire Trying to Get Local Buy-In on Education Reform Plan
This was originally posted on Thursday.
UPDATE: The Tacoma School District—including the union—signed off on Gov. Gregoire's plan today, bringing the number of districts that support her Race to the Top program to 52.
The Seattle School District announced Thursday that they are supporting the state's Race to the Top Application. RTTT is a federal grant program for education dollars, worth $250 million over four years.
The school district's vote is only one piece of the puzzle.
In order for the state to be able to namecheck Seattle as a supporter they also need the union on board, which is set to vote next week. Sources say the union is likely to give the plan—which includes things the union has traditionally been antsy about, like allowing alternative routes to teacher certification and state takeovers of failing schools—the nod. (The satewide union already has.)
Governor Chris Gregoire has a savvy strategy in play to beef up Washington state's RTTT application. She's setting out to get the school board, the union, the superintendent, and a principal from all 295 school districts statewide to sign off. It's a smart idea because while Washington state's application doesn't meet all the Obama administration reform standards (like supporting charters and having uniform teacher evaluations that are based on student achievement), having grassroots support, particularly from the unions, will reveal that stellar applications (on paper) from other states aren't feasible because they don't have buy in.
Applications are due on June 1, and the governor's office has an internal deadline of getting its statewide sign offs by May 17. So far, they're at 35 districts and admit to being "nervous." However, the lack of broad buy in is more demonstrative of the cumbersome process (like the timing of a the Seattle union's vote) than it is of opposition to the plan, the governor's office says.
That's probably true. Sarah Morris, leader in the Our Schools Coalition, which had advocated for more Obama-esque reforms at the state level and is currently trying to get Seattle Schools to adopt its own more rigorous reforms, told PubliCola she "applauded" the district's decison today to give the thumbs up to the state's RTTT proposal.
UPDATE: The Tacoma School District—including the union—signed off on Gov. Gregoire's plan today, bringing the number of districts that support her Race to the Top program to 52.
The Seattle School District announced Thursday that they are supporting the state's Race to the Top Application. RTTT is a federal grant program for education dollars, worth $250 million over four years.
The school district's vote is only one piece of the puzzle.
In order for the state to be able to namecheck Seattle as a supporter they also need the union on board, which is set to vote next week. Sources say the union is likely to give the plan—which includes things the union has traditionally been antsy about, like allowing alternative routes to teacher certification and state takeovers of failing schools—the nod. (The satewide union already has.)
Governor Chris Gregoire has a savvy strategy in play to beef up Washington state's RTTT application. She's setting out to get the school board, the union, the superintendent, and a principal from all 295 school districts statewide to sign off. It's a smart idea because while Washington state's application doesn't meet all the Obama administration reform standards (like supporting charters and having uniform teacher evaluations that are based on student achievement), having grassroots support, particularly from the unions, will reveal that stellar applications (on paper) from other states aren't feasible because they don't have buy in.
Applications are due on June 1, and the governor's office has an internal deadline of getting its statewide sign offs by May 17. So far, they're at 35 districts and admit to being "nervous." However, the lack of broad buy in is more demonstrative of the cumbersome process (like the timing of a the Seattle union's vote) than it is of opposition to the plan, the governor's office says.
That's probably true. Sarah Morris, leader in the Our Schools Coalition, which had advocated for more Obama-esque reforms at the state level and is currently trying to get Seattle Schools to adopt its own more rigorous reforms, told PubliCola she "applauded" the district's decison today to give the thumbs up to the state's RTTT proposal.
