State teacher’s union opposes DOE plan for federal money
posted by Loki on Jan.6.2010 at 2:48 pm
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January 5, 2010
By DIANE D’AMICO Education Writer
The Press of Atlantic City
TRENTON – Local school districts have a week to decide if they want a share of $400 million in federal money.
But getting it could mean longer school days and years, tougher teacher evaluations and more student testing.
The president of the state’s largest teacher’s union is already telling local unions to reject the plan.
State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy presented the state’s “Race to The Top” application Tuesday during a meeting of more than 600 school officials in Trenton. The plan requires every participating district to submit a memorandum of agreement signed by the school superintendent, the school board president and the local teacher’s union leader saying they agree to the terms of the state’s application.
Districts must submit the memoranda to Trenton by Jan. 14 to meet the Jan. 19 federal application deadline. Districts that do not sign on will not receive any funds.
“Everyone has to be willing to be partners in this transformational change,” Davy said. “We know the timeline is tight, but we can’t let this opportunity pass by.”
Barbara Keshishian, president of the New Jersey Education Association, said Tuesday that she will send a memo to local district union leaders advising them not to sign on to the application. She said the proposal has too many provisions the NJEA believes should be decided by collective bargaining, not by the state in a two-week rush to meet the deadline.
“We believe the application is severely flawed,” Keshishian said, referring to provisions on merit pay, revising teacher evaluations to include student performance and requiring longer school days in the lowest-performing schools.
“The funding would be limited, but the obligations tied to it are limitless,” she said.
Education Department spokeswoman Kathryn Forsyth said the state has had constructive discussions with NJEA over the past several weeks about their concerns, “but we need to move forward with applying at this point. We expect that the union locals will make their decisions over the next few weeks, and we hope they will come to the conclusion that they want to participate.”
Davy said during a teleconference after the meeting that the state’s funding allocation, if approved, would likely be linked to the number of districts participating. The applications could be submitted without union support, but it would weaken the proposal.
The federal government has allocated $4 billion nationwide in Race to the Top funds. Davy said New Jersey has been told that it could get $200 million to $400 million, but only 10 to 12 states are likely to get any funds at all in the first round. Davy believes New Jersey has a good chance because the state has already shown progress in improving student performance.
Davy earlier said the state would not apply for the first round of Race to the Top funds, citing the tight deadline and a new governor with his own agenda. But after facing complaints that the state should not pass up any opportunity for funds, Davy said the Education Department would submit a plan this month.
The application is ambitious and includes plans to improve teaching, testing and evaluation of students, staff and school leadership. The top 25 or 30 lowest-performing schools would have to take specific measures to improve performance, including extending the school day, or face being closed or taken over by a charter school.
The state also plans to offer more guidance on curriculum and establish data systems to track individual student performance and teacher effectiveness. Schools could have their funding pulled if they do not follow the state plan, or do not show improvement.
Frank Belluscio, of the New Jersey School Boards Association, said his group will not advise school boards whether or not to participate, but will focus on publicizing the application to make sure boards have all the information they need to decide. He said the tight timeline is a major concern.
“There are a lot of innovative ideas that would break the mold,” Belluscio said. “But there are collective bargaining issues, and it places a lot of control outside the boards’ hands while still holding boards responsible. But it also is an opportunity for funding that won’t likely happen again.”
Contact Diane D’Amico:
609-272-7241
DDamico@pressofac.com