State Race to the Top Plan Will Strangle Local Schools

County school districts along with local Teacher unions have been under enormous pressure from the FLDOE, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grant application. FEA has serious concerns about the MOU. The Florida Education Association has urged local affiliate unions not to sign the state’s current MOU.

As President of the union that advocates for Florida’s teachers and education staff professionals, I fully recognize that Florida needs money, and this grant could move the state in the direction of significant education reform. But now is not the time for our local school districts or teacher unions to enter into a legally binding agreement with so many unanswered questions. The state's proposed plan is educationally unsound and financially unsustainable. I know in my heart we are doing what’s right for Florida’s students, schools, and teachers.

This fight is about:

• Maintaining control for local school districts

• Focusing on the schools with students that struggle the most

• Recapturing the teaching profession

The state's proposed plan will remove local control from county school districts and replace it with a one size fits all micro-managing approach to education reform, controlled by the Florida Department of Education, with no input from those who know their local schools the best.

The federal RTTT application guidelines suggest offering school districts a choice of reforms, but that option is not being offered in Florida. There is no flexibility for districts or teachers.

Since August, FEA has been meeting with state education stakeholders including Commissioner Smith, members of the state School Board Association, the state Superintendents Association, and the Governor's Office. FEA has been inspired by this unique opportunity for collaboration in examining new ways to increase student achievement, especially in struggling schools, and exploring alternative ways to compensate and evaluate teachers.

But the state's one-size-fits-all approach proposed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) doesn't mirror the agreements and assurances agreed to by ALL stakeholders in previous months. The list of guiding principles drafted by the participants to guide our work included:

• Focusing on raising student achievement, particularly for low performing students

• Using a pilot based approach to first test bold ideas and prove efficacy

• Basing pilots on evidence or research-based best practices

• Allowing local district participation to be by choice not by mandate

• Ensuring that our proposal address all grant requirements

• And, focusing on sustainable policies

The state’s approach to the Race to the Top grant is prescriptive and top down and

relies heavily on unproven practices and research for academic reform.

The RTTT grant represents non-recurring dollars for recurring costs. Signing the MOU binds local school districts to funding their portion of the grant. Many districts have expressed concerns over the financial sustainability of the state plan. Yet, the FLDOE is urging school districts and unions to sign this agreement without a full understanding of how it will be implemented, or the impact it will have on you and your students. Management tells us this is bad business.

Even worse, the FLDOE has stated that districts involved in the grant will pick-up all other costs not covered during the grant timeframe and all costs after the grant expires in 4 years, ultimately costing some districts much more in the long run than the short-term infusion of cash. Districts will be left to scrounge for funding out of their operational budgets to continue to pay for the DOE reform plan.

In fact, school districts have not received the full state plan because it hasn't been completed. It's similar to someone demanding that you sign a blank contract. Would you do that?

To add to that concern, this Memorandum of Understanding will bring significant changes for districts, teachers, and students. Our concern lies in the current scope of work the DOE mandates which includes:

• District-wide implementation

• Altering your workday

• Changing the evaluation system

• Creating a new teacher compensation system

• Increases student testing

• Establishing a new high-tech high school in all participating districts

...And much more.

As a teacher I have asked myself: Does this improve the lives of our students? Will this improve instruction? Does this improve the lives of teachers? Is this even financially sustainable?

I believe the answer to these questions is no. Wouldn't locally negotiated pilot programs focused on individual struggling schools make more sense?

 
Again I want to emphasize that FEA’s opposition lies with the Florida DOE’s Memorandum of Understanding, not with the spirit and intent of Race to the Top grant.

The current DOE plan is wrong for students. It’s wrong for our schools. It’s wrong for our teachers.

Andy Ford

FEA President

Race to the Top-MOU Q & A

NEA and AFT Comment on Race to the Top