Tennessee To Receive $500 Million In Race To The Top Funds
3/29/2010
| Chattanoogan.com
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posted March 29, 2010
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that Delaware and Tennessee have won grants in the first phase of the Race to the Top competition.
“This is a landmark opportunity for Tennessee,” said Governor Phil Bredesen. “Our success in Race to the Top speaks to the commitment we’ve made to meaningful and significant improvement in public education, and the funds provided by the grant will carry us forward in a dramatic and positive direction.”
Tennessee requested $501 million in its application. As one of the next steps in the process, the U.S. Department of Education will complete negotiations with successful states on their Race to the Top contracts to finalize award amounts.
"We received many strong proposals from states all across America, but two applications stood out above all others: Delaware and Tennessee," Secretary Duncan said in announcing the winners. "Both states have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their schools. They have written new laws to support their policies. And they have demonstrated the courage, capacity, and commitment to turn their ideas into practices that can improve outcomes for students."
Delaware will receive approximately $100 million and Tennessee $500 million to implement their comprehensive school reform plans over the next four years. As with any federal grant program, budgets will be finalized after discussions between the grantees and the Department, and the money will be distributed over time as the grantees meet established benchmarks.
The U.S. Department of Education will have about $3.4 billion available for the second phase of the Race to the Top competition.
"We set a very high bar for the first phase," Secretary Duncan said. "With $3.4 billion still available, we're providing plenty of opportunity for all other states to develop plans and aggressively pursue reform."
The $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund is an unprecedented federal investment in reform. The program includes $4 billion for statewide reform grants and $350 million to support states working together to improve the quality of their assessments. The Race to the Top state competition is designed to reward states that are leading the way in comprehensive, coherent, statewide education reform across four key areas:
- Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace;
- Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals how to improve instruction;
- Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
- Turning around their lowest-performing schools.
Forty states and the District of Columbia submitted applications for the first phase of grants. Delaware and Tennessee were selected from among 16 finalists who presented their proposals to panels of peer reviewers earlier this month.
The peer reviewers awarded the highest scores to Delaware and Tennessee. They awarded Delaware and Tennessee high marks for the commitment to reform from key stakeholders, including elected officials, teacher's union leaders, and business leaders. In both states, all school districts committed to implementing Race to the Top reforms. Delaware and Tennessee also have aggressive plans to improve teacher and principal evaluation, use data to inform instructional decisions, and turn around their lowest-performing schools. In addition, both states have put in place strong laws and policies to support their reform efforts.
Applications for Phase 2 of Race to the Top are due on June 1, 2010. To help states as they prepare their proposals and to continue the nationwide dialogue on education reform, the Department of Education has made all Phase 1 applications, peer reviewers' comments, and scores available on its website; videos of states' presentations will be posted next week.
The Department is making one change to the rules for the Phase 2 competition. To fund as many strong applications as possible, the Department of Education is requiring states' budgets to be within the ranges that were suggested in the original notice. Details are available on the Department's website and will appear in the Federal Register later this week.
Governor Bredesen had called a special session of the Legislature to work on the state's application.
One portion of the application could have Howard School of Academics and Technology placed under state control because of past lack of progress at the school.
Senator Lamar Alexander said, “Tennessee didn’t quite make the Final Four in basketball, but it made the Final Two in improving schools, which is more important. Governor Bredesen, the legislature and educators deserve credit for their leadership and vision.
“Secretary Duncan told me this morning that the Tennessee and Delaware applications were clearly the best two proposals according to objective scoring.
“I am opposed to increased funding for more-of-the-same in our schools, but strongly support ideas such as ‘Race to the Top’ that encourage excellence. I voted against the trillion-dollar stimulus package because it spent too much and there was no way to separate a good program such as ‘Race to the Top’ from a bad bill.”
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue issued the following statement today regarding the state’s Race to the Top application.
“We were hoping to be among the Final Four in the Race to the Top competition, but unfortunately this time only two winners were chosen. I spoke with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this morning and he complimented Georgia on our strong application and commitment to education reform. I promised him Georgia will reapply in June and we will be tough to beat in the second round of awards that will be announced this fall. The Department will provide us valuable feedback on our application, and I am confident that we are a top seed heading into round two. I want to especially thank the 23 systems that have joined with Georgia for this competition, and we look forward to celebrating with them later this year.”