The Louisiana School Boards Association is encouraging its members not to participate in the federal Race to the Top program.
In a press release, Nolton Senegal, the executive director of the association, said rejecting funding awarded under the competitive program would be in keeping with Gov. Bobby Jindal’s approach to other economic-stimulus aid that would require continued state funding.
Don Whittinghill, the editorial and research consultant for the group, said a mail poll of school board members found that 76.9 percent of respondents were opposed to the Race to the Top initiative. Half the state associations 658 members were polled, and 27 percent of them responded. The release says a similar survey of superintendents found that 91.3 percent of the respondents did not want their school boards to participate.
