Databus Issue: 2010 3 07/31/2010
Legislative Update
Jeff Frost CETPA Legislative ConsultantCalifornia’s Round Two "Race To The Top" Application Submitted
Will There Be Long-Term Implications of This Action?
In the last month there has been a flurry of activity surrounding California's application for the second round of federal ARRA Race to the Top funding.
During the highly anticipated first round, many were shocked that only two states received grants; and neither of those was a very large state. The winners, Delaware and Tennessee had almost 100 percent participation by both school districts and employee organizations. This was clearly a very high bar to match. There had been wide speculation that given the emphasis on "participation" and California's relatively low ranking in Round 1 that we would not even apply in Round 2.
Local Education Leaders Convince Governor to Apply
So why did California’s policy leaders decide to give it another try? It appears the political environment in Washington, D.C. may have changed. I know this sounds surprising, but it is Washington, D.C. after all. After the conclusion of Round 1, the U.S. Department of Education began reaching out to California and other states in a plea for them to apply for Round 2. There was an underlying message that Round 2 would be different, with a hint that the criteria would be different.
Based on these conversations, Bonnie Reiss, the new Secretary of Education in the Schwarzenegger Administration began to think of alternatives that would allow California to meet the tight deadlines of applying for RTTT Round 2 by the end of May. This is where the concept of a mini-grant was born. At the urging of Secretary Reiss, the Governor met personally with Chris Steinhauser from Long Beach USD and Mike Hanson from Fresno USD. Both district superintendents have had a long working relationship with this administration, were reform-oriented leaders and had signed on to the first round application. Shortly thereafter, Ramon Cortines from Los Angeles USD joined the conversation. Interestingly, Superintendent Cortines had been having conversation with the USDOE about LA submitting its own application. "Why not?" he thought. LA has more students than Delaware anyway. These three superintendents pressed the Governor that it was critical for California to continue to press forward on the academic reforms embodied in RTTT. While the actual application is a "state" application that must be submitted by and signed off by the Governor, the development of the application was done by these local school district leaders with assistance from several foundations that have been active donors to education reform efforts.
New Application Plan Developed
A plan quickly took shape after Secretary Reiss contacted several of the foundations that have been active in education reform. Many of these foundations agreed to assist the districts in developing the application. Ultimately, it was agreed that the grant would be submitted by six districts: Clovis, Fresno, Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sanger. The application team is working full tilt in an effort to be ready for submittal in the beginning of June.
After the decision to apply was made, the application created a flurry of activity and interest. The Senate Education Committee held an information hearing on RTTT. During the hearing, Secretary Reiss and Fresno Superintendent Mike Hanson both spoke. Both appeared to be optimistic about the chances of success in Round 2. Part of this optimism is based on the change in tone from Washington (and the fact that the vast majority of RTTT funds still remain to be distributed). The other source of optimism is rooted in the actual work being done by the various district collaborators. Unlike the original application that was done almost completely by the California Department of Education and the Office of the Secretary of Education, the second application reflected the academic vision of the six superintendents and districts. As Mike Hanson indicated in the hearing, a lot of reform work is already going on in these six districts that was not reflected in California's initial application. In fact, as these education leaders held conference calls with other districts superintendents, there were excited questions and discussion between local school leaders rather than state bureaucrats trying to answer questions. The entire atmosphere seemed to have changed.
All Districts Can Join the Application
While the application was prepared by these six districts along with foundation consultants, it was always anticipated that other districts in the state would be given an opportunity to sign on as participants in the grant. In the end, 302 districts signed on and approximately one-third of the employee organizations in the state agreed to sign.
Win or Lose, There Will Be Long Term Implications
In all likelihood, this new application will be more thoughtful and focus on attainable objectives because it has been developed by California administrators who have a history of education reform. However, there is likely to be additional long-term impacts. First, this new application will probably speed up the effort for California to adopt the common core standards that have been developed by the National Governor’s Association and are being supported by the Obama administration. The second positive impact may very well be the improved collection of academic data and the completion of and refinement of the CalPADS and CalTIDES data collection systems. The renewed emphasis by the Governor and legislative leaders on funding these two data systems in the budget and a specific challenge made by the Governor in the May Revision to the State Budget that indicated that if the CDE was not able to fully complete our data system, that the Governor would find a way to do it without them. The May Revise stated:
The Administration remains concerned with the progress of the CALPADS and CALTIDES…..the state’s existing investment in longitudinal data systems since 1997 totals about $155 million from state and federal sources, including almost $34 million specifically for CALPADS and $7.1 million for CALTIDES. The CALPADS system was supposed to be operational in August 2009, yet due to poor vendor performance and inadequate monitoring by CDE, the system has not been implemented. It is therefore incumbent on the CDE to ensure at a minimum that by the end of this calendar year, CALPADS is able to receive and reliably transfer data. In the event this goal is not achieved, the Administration will seek to contract these projects out to a consortium of local school districts that, in collaboration with the segments of higher education, will leverage their statewide data systems to meet the requirements specified for federal Race to the Top (RTTT) funding.
There is no reason to believe that this statement and our RTTT application are not linked. Given that the in-depth use of data is one of the key components of the Obama Administration’s education reforms, it cannot be a coincidence that our policymakers are pushing the button on refining our data system and working on alternative sources of revenue to finish the job. If nothing else happens as a result of California racing to the top, getting our data collection system finished and fully operational will be a useful benefit. The results of RTTT round 2 will be known later this summer. Here’s hoping that the race turns out well.
