Indiana will bow out of the federal Race to the Top competition after a highly public feud between public schools chief Tony
Bennett and the state’s teachers' unions.
Bennett, Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction, said Thursday that the state will not submit an application
for Phase 2 funding in the competition run by the U.S. Department of Education. The competition offers $4.35 billion to help
states advance school reforms.
“Without support from the union that represents more than 90 percent of Indiana’s school districts, our application
will not be competitively positioned,” Bennett said in a statement released by the Indiana Department of Education.
“Instead, just as today’s students have no time to waste, IDOE will waste no time as we continue our efforts to
implement Indiana’s Fast Forward plan without the federal funding.”
Bennett said his decision came after the president of the state’s largest teachers' union, the Indiana State Teachers
Association, declined to meet with him in an April 27 meeting in his office. Bennett also had invited the news media to attend.
“ISTA is more than willing to meet with you and your staff in meaningful work sessions, but we will not participate
in a media event arranged for the purpose of strong-arming ISTA into agreeing to an unequivocal sign-off regarding the Indiana
Department of Education’s Race to the Top application demands,” ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger wrote in a
letter released by Bennett.
Indiana applied in the first round of the Race to the Top competition but did not even make the finals of the competition,
in large part because Bennett’s plan won support from only 62 percent of the local teachers unions.
Two weeks ago, Bennett demanded that ISTA immediately support five key principles of Indiana’s Race
to the Top application. Otherwise, he promised, Indiana would not apply again.
Schnellenberger responded last week by saying Bennett needed to start over on his Fast Forward plan.
Indiana could have won up to $250 million from the federal government, which is enticing to schools because Gov. Mitch Daniels
has responded to falling state tax revenue by cutting state funding for public schools by $297 million.
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Jeez man, take a stats class - then chime in with your kindergarten level analysis.
ISTA in no way can be blamed for the lack of an additional application for Race To The Top funding. Bennett's position that the plan will not move forward without union support is simply NOT VALID. Four of the top eleven RTTT applications which were submitted in the first round did not have the support of the unions in these states. The reality is that Bennett's plan placed 23rd of 40 because it was unfocused and did not provide methods of assessment which were clear enough for the RTTT evaluators. Perhaps if Tony Bennett had involved ISTA in the process of completing Indiana's application, the outcome might have been different. It is simply disingenous for Bennett to state that ISTA's "unequivocal" support would have moved Indiana's RTTT application up at least 21 places in the next round. It is also worthy of note that both of the winning states' applications PRESERVED current tenure rules, graduated pay scales, and collective bargaining f, which were curiously the most pressing issues in Bennett's demand of support from ISTA for his second application. He is clearly out of touch on many, many levels.
In addition, his track record as an administrator at the local school district level is questionable enough to warrant serious discussion as to whether he is even qualified to hold his current position with IDOE. He spent all of two years actually teaching in a classroom before becoming an administrator, and he has not looked back since. He simply lacks perspective on what a qualified, dedicated, career-oriented teacher actually looks like, because he's never been one himself.
Bennett is using his close association with Mitch Daniels and his skill in playing for the Indianapolis media to prepare for a future gubernatorial run. He has no long-term interest in resolving Indiana's educational climate, as he's hoping to move to the statehouse when Mitch makes his impending failed run at the Presidency.
This is a very, very dark time for the public schools of the Hoosier state, and it has nothing to do with ISTA and this RTTT controversy- it is the use of our children and their education as political theater by two very short-sighted men who seek mostly to advance their own careers which will ultimately be so very damaging.
IN unemployment rate has increased from 5.3% in 2004-2009. Children living in poverty increased from 15.7%-17.9% 04-08, since 2004 16,330 students have been added to free and reduced lunch, since 04 the # of 12th graders NOT taking the SAT has grown 4%, and in just one year 07-08 Indiana's bankruptcy filiings grew by 20.8%. But as we know, based on their plan and your comments, that circumstances and factors beyond our control have little or no impoact on our overall effectiveness.
Not submitting an improved Race to the Top application insures failure for our kids because adults are acting like infants. Parents expect results, not ultimatums, threats, and finger pointing.
The media should ridicule both until they get an improved application submitted. Not trying is not acceptable when so much is at stake.
This should not be allowed. Only the media can deliver the accountability needed to focus a public backlash large enough to get these people to do their jobs.
Major reform is needed to achieve pay for performance beyond a test score based job evaluation.
Just ask any state employee how fair Mitch's new state employee pay for performance system is working.
The real question, how do you measure a teacher. And, as with all jobs, they get better with time, do you fire all first year teachers every year? Unions are needed to protect education from state bureaucrats. Think of teacher with the same skill as auto-license branch employees.
Do you really believe Bennett has a clue about education?
Look it up and you'll find a poor-performing district. And now he lectures everyone else on how to do it right.
PUH-LEEZE.
The media should take both to task for not even applying for the Race to the Top Grant and improve upon the first application.
You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
Tony Bennett has failed us by not even trying.
How do you propose to objectively (even if there's some subjective and it's meshed in with objective) and find a good way to determine who makes what?
Test scores?
My mom (3rd Grade) had what she described as an A+++ student (and said it wasn't as close as I was at that age). She knew what she was supposed to know, learning it on her own when she wanted to work ahead.
When she (girl) opened the ISTEP packet, she cried, literally broke down and cried.
Now, if she really knows the material, perhaps better than most adults (what are the illiteracy and innumeracy numbers for adults these days?), should it reflect upon my mom (or any other teacher in the situation) because of the tests?
What if teachers promote to get them out of their way (and their peers in the same grade?) Parents move, enrolls kid in school at a higher grade level than they should, something brown & smelly hits the fan. (parents going postal with the principal who in reality are going to move up the food chain)
Who is responsible and how should be determined [that it's the correct party]?
... why my mom [1] is retiring at the end of the (current) semester. 38 years. The buyout was too good to pass up and she could leave on her terms. One of the things teachers were talking about is things might not be as good.
She has enough hours to have 1+ Master's Degree(s) beyond the required one.
In the recent years, a number of teachers, retired & active in her school system, would get together once or twice a week during the summer, and play bridge at the local Pizza Hut. Many of the retirees have regrets about leaving and knew they couldn't go back. (Until now) She wanted to make sure she didn't make the same mistake.
You know what's really funny? When she talked to her principal about it, he had no clue what was going on. The superintendent's office sent all of the paperwork directly to the teachers and said nothing to the principals. As if the super et al had any clue to who the teachers were, their quality, etc. Just numbers on paper. I figure it's like a director or VP in a business stepping over anyone between them and the peons.
Lots of industries no longer need unions.
In the case of teachers ... I think it's rather obvious.
It's been going on for years: how to get people who have (real-world) experience to teach and there's all sorts of scrambling to expedite it.
With the crap we see going on now, would I do it? No chance.
I'd rather cash in every paycheck and toss it into the lottery.
Speaking of which - and it's OT - but what happens to lottery winners? We already know those who want it in installments for the next 20 years have made a mistake in math. What's going to happen if someone decides to say, "hey! They've already received so far - that's not a bad deal. They really aren't going to be hurt if we help the state's economy. (With everything you're seeing, tell me that's not an impossible scenario. One lump sum. After several years, how are they going to take that away?
Oh. Wait. Don't some of the proceeds go to teachers (pension funds?) This does not bode well. If the state doesn't get what it wants elsewhere, they'll get it where they can take it. (As in not contribute as much is supposed to.)
[1] My grandmother was a K/1 teacher for many years and retired a long time ago. I have a sister who teaches.