HELENA – Montana education officials didn’t apply for grants under a federal education program, saying the state would have to change education rules, labor contracts and other standards.
“Our schools are doing pretty well right now; they are being innovating,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau said. “Taking a look at the kind of requirements that the federal government wants, we’re not sure we really want to go down that path.”
President Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” education initiative offers funding for states that use student test scores to judge teacher performance and supports the creation of charter schools, which are funded with public money but are independent of local school boards.
Juneau said that to qualify for the federal money, Montana would have to weaken local control of schools, change how it evaluates teachers in ways that could violate labor contracts and possibly agree to transfer teachers from one district to another.
“It’s really pushing an urban agenda onto our rural states,” she said Tuesday, the deadline to apply for the first round of grants. About 30 states were expected to apply.
Obama on Tuesday also announced an extension of the program, adding $1.3 billion this year to the $4 billion approved last year.
States and school districts have been asked to apply and compete for the money by adopting “more challenging standards,” better assessments to measure students’ progress, new plans to evaluate teachers and principals and plans to turn around low-performing schools.
Eric Feaver, president of the MEA-MFT, the labor union that represents public school teachers, said he hasn’t spoken with anyone in education in Montana who is enthusiastic about applying for Race to the Top money.
Montana get could anywhere from $140 to $530 per student, or 1.5 percent to 5.5 percent of what the state and local governments spend on public schools.
Juneau said during her first year as state superintendent, her office has identified 10 struggling school districts. She has visited schools in Lodge Grass, Wyola, Heart Butte, Frazer and Hays-Lodgepole and met with community leaders to discuss how to improve.
“We’ve done a great deal of work on turning around low-performing schools,” she said. “We don’t think the way the federal government has laid that out can help us in that area.”