State likely won't meet standards for new federal education money

Washington is unlikely to get more education stimulus, at least not yet.

At an informal briefing Monday with statehouse reporters, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Washington state does not appear to be in line for so-called Race to the Top money from the federal government.

“If you want to be eligible for Race to the Top you have to meet the criteria, and I’m not sure we meet the criteria,” Gregoire said.

The special pot of stimulus funds – up to $4.5 billion – will go to states that take steps to reform their education systems. Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants states to set high standards and have testing in place to measure them, improve low-performing schools, make sure each classroom has a good teacher and have data-collection systems in place to track student performance.

Seems simple. But each touches on issues that have been battlegrounds between teachers unions and reformers. Improving low-performing schools might lead to changing staff. Assuring quality teachers might involve firing low-quality teachers, evaluating teacher performance and offering merit pay.

Even collecting data has been opposed by some union leaders because they fear it will be used to punish teachers who have students who fail.

Duncan also thinks states should have some charter schools – public schools that operate independently of most state and local controls. Washington is one of a handful of states that ban charter schools.

Gregoire said Washington might be in line for the second round of funding next year. But that would require changes to be passed during the 2010 legislative session.

“We’ll know more when they come out with the criteria,” she said, something she expects in the fall.

Peter Callaghan, The News Tribune