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District 861 is among 300 districts in Minnesota that signed onto a 1,000 page application for Race To The Top grant money, but officials did so without the blessing of the local teachers union.
Race To The Top is an education initiative spearheaded by President Barak Obama that will put $4.3 billion into the hands of states and school districts engaging in education innovation and reform.
Of that $4.3 billion, Minnesota officials believe they are positioned well to receive more than $230 million, money that would be divided between districts signing on with the state.
In part the money is intended to help districts meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind, an education act that has sought to raise student achievement but has also cost districts substantially in its implementation.
Of the 40 states that applied for RTTT grant money, only between 10 and 15 are expected to receive funding.
Grant awards will be based on a state’s ability to demonstrate efforts already underway to improve student achievement.
In Minnesota, those efforts include revised standards to make math instruction more relevant, state policies developing charter schools, and a performance pay program for teachers.
To sign on to the state’s grant application, District 861 agreed to partner with the state in a variety of education efforts focusing on staff development and student achievement.
Superintendent Paul Durand said union officials declined to sign the document with district officials, as did many other unions in the state.
Education Minnesota, a statewide teachers union that represents local unions, advised its members that they should not sign the agreement, with its president sending the union’s own version of an application for funding instead.
Durand said he is unclear what the union’s particular issues are with the grant application, but if the district didn’t join the effort now it would not be eligible for the money if Minnesota receives it.
State officials asked that unions be invited to sign on but did not require their participation for districts to apply.
If the state receives funding then districts with unions in opposition to the grant will have to cooperate or the district will not receive funds.
There were no repercussions for signing up, said Durand, and districts can withdraw if the eventual details of implementation don’t track with a district’s education goals. But districts that did not sign on now will not be eligible later, so most joined the effort.
“In this climate of budget cuts and declining resources, it didn’t make sense why we wouldn’t,” Durand said. “I can’t quite understand why unions are not in alignment with this.”
If Minnesota receives a portion of the grant, officials have outlined how the money will work to enhance school accountability, train teachers and measure student growth. One of the requirements for receipt of grant money is participation in a performance pay plan, something the local union has not supported.
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