Board Of Education Weighs Race To The Top

With a projected $140,000 of funding hanging in the balance, members of the Darien Board of Education laid out their concerns Tuesday night about signing onto Connecticut's application for a Race To The Top grant.

As Superintendent of Schools Donald P. Fiftal attempted to explain the inflows and obligations associated with supporting the state's request to the $4.35 billion federal pool, board members voiced qualms about the apparent vagueness of the plan and the potential for encroachment on the district by state officials.

Because of an impending deadline, the board ultimately invested authority in Fiftal and chair Kimberly Westcott to decide for Darien with the understanding that they would seek out more information on the subject before making a choice.

At stake is the projected $140,000—spread out over three years—as well as approximately $151 million to be spent at the state level, should Connecticut's application be approved. But the allocation of and conditions placed on that funding are a complicated matter.

"Hartford does not have a history of earning our trust on these kinds of issues," board member Morgan Whittier said, drawing an unfavorable comparison between the program and No Child Left Behind. "Saying the Connecticut [State] Department of Education stands beside Darien, that just isn't true."

Race to the Top was established under the February 2009 stimulus package and is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It allows states to apply for grants on a sliding scale—a total of $175 million in Connecticut's case—which the department may choose to award on the basis of each state's plan for using the money.

As Fiftal described to the board, the complex point system used to judge states' applications focuses on four areas of reform sought by the department: establishing common educational standards and rigorous assessments, building systems to track and harness data about student performance, training and retaining effective teachers, and reviving failing schools.

"Exactly what Darien's part would be in this remains to be seen," Fiftal said.

That's a key concern, as one major component of the scoring rubric is community buy-in. States which obtain commitments to their plans from the bulk of local school districts are awarded more points. The only two states that were successful when the first round of grants were handed out in March—Delaware and Tennessee—both won support from over 90% of school boards.

To reach that level, Connecticut must get more superintendents—and if possible, school board chairs and teachers' union leaders—to sign onto a memorandum of understanding, which Darien declined to do when the state first applied in January. Only about 65% of Connecticut's districts backed the ultimately failed application.

The board's response to Connecticut's proposal, now on its second pass after a round of revisions, was a mix of concern over its level of specificity and reluctance to pass up such a significant amount of funding.

"I'm not willing to turn it down because I don't really know what it is," said board member Heather Shea, "but I think we do have to do our part if sister communities like ours are supporting it."

"It sounds like another way to put money in bureaucrats' pockets. I don't like it," Whittier said.

Among many other items, Connecticut's plan would establish a new support and evaluation system for teachers and administrators, increase the types and accessibility of data collected on students, and direct funds toward rehabilitating troubled schools in many of the state's biggest cities.

"$175 million is good for the state of Connecticut and probably good for us," Westcott said, whether received directly or through funding redirected as a result of the grant.

"If our peer towns are going forward with it… I would be inclined to support it," Westcott added.

Though the school budget—set at $71.5 million for 2010-2011—is vastly larger than the sum Darien schools would receive under RTTT, the importance of extra funding was put in high relief by the district was recently forced to seek.

"Even symbolically, it's hard to say we're going to pass up $140,000," Fiftal said. "It's something I'd have to think long and hard about."

Fiftal noted that the Darien Education Association and Connecticut Education Association, the local and state teachers' unions, are supportive of the plan despite the changes to the teacher evaluation process it would carry.

"Connecticut stands to gain so much that at this point in the process, they didn't feel that should represent an obstacle," Fiftal said.

Because the deadline to sign onto the plan falls before its next meeting, the board unanimously voted to grant decision-making authority to Fiftal and Westcott pending a state-run conference call on RTTT later this week.

The district has until May 19 to make a decision. Finalist states will be named on or around July 26, and the department of education will assign grants in late August or early September. 

If Connecticut is successful, Darien and other districts will have 90 days after the award is given to submit final plans for the use of local funding.