Special Report
Education Funding

Lure of ‘Race to the Top’ Roils California Legislature as Fiscal Crisis Continues

By Lesli A. Maxwell — December 08, 2009 4 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Leaders in California are still at odds over what new policies and school improvement efforts they must embrace to make the state a strong contender for some of the $4 billion being offered in federal Race to the Top Fund grants as the deadline to apply closes in.

With up to $700 million in economic-stimulus money on the line in the cash-starved state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers are pushing to lift California’s cap on charter schools and to make it easier for parents to move their children out of low-performing schools, among other measures.

But some Democratic lawmakers in the Assembly, who are the majority in that house of the legislature, along with the two state teachers’ unions and organizations that represent school board members and administrators, have so far declined to support the governor’s legislation.

Late last month, Julia Brownley, the chairwoman of the Assembly’s education committee, said she was working to write new legislation that would “successfully position ourselves and address the final regulations” of the Race to the Top competition and present it as a bill or package of bills for a vote by mid-December.

More than 6 million children attend California’s public schools, which have endured unprecedented budget cuts during the state’s ongoing fiscal meltdown. Race to the Top grants are the largest discretionary pool of money for education under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus package passed by Congress in February.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, who called a special legislative session on education in September, favors legislation passed in early November by the Democratic-controlled state Senate and has repeatedly urged the Assembly to act on the bill.

Earlier this fall, the governor signed into law a measure to rid the state of its so-called data firewall that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had said would keep student test scores from being used to evaluate teachers, and would disqualify the nation’s largest state from even competing for the Race to the Top grant money.

“The clock is ticking,” said Glen W. Thomas, the state secretary of education, who serves as the governor’s top education adviser. “Some of the things we want to do may not be technically required, but they are philosophically consistent with [Race to the Top], and we want to not only be eligible, we want to be competitive.”

Seeking Buy-In

The Race to the Top grants are intended to reward states for making progress on certain education redesign principles embedded in the stimulus law. The application deadline for the first round of grants is in January.

Ms. Brownley has pledged to write legislation that would not only make California competitive for the federal grant funds, but that would also garner support from the state’s “education coalition,” which includes the 340,000-member California Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association.

Buy-in from key education interests, including school districts and teachers’ unions, is an important factor in the Race to the Top competition under the final guidelines that were released last month.

“We want to respond to this in a thoughtful way for California,” she said, “not only in the short term, which is what Race to the Top is leveraging, but also for the longer term.”

Fiscal Crisis

Underscoring the debate is California’s wrecked economy.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has argued that the state’s dire fiscal conditions make urgent an application for the Race to the Top money, which will likely go to only a handful of states. The governor learned late last month that he will face a projected deficit of $21 billion, out of a state budget of roughly $103 billion, in fiscal 2010, just four months after piecing together a budget that carved deeply into core state services, including K-12 schooling. The state’s top budget analyst is also projecting deficits of $20 billion or more through fiscal 2013.

But with the maximum Race to the Top award for California pegged at $700 million, others have been arguing that the sum, while generous, is small relative to the more than $15 billion in state spending cuts to K-12 and isn’t worth the risk of making hasty education policy changes.

“The money would be nice because of our budget situation,” said Erika Hoffman, a lobbyist for the California School Boards Association. “But this is one-time money. Where are we going to get the money to sustain anything that we start?”

With each governor pegged as the leader of his or her state’s Race to the Top effort, some Californians say they are frustrated that they haven’t seen a concrete reform plan put forth by Gov. Schwarzenegger, whose team is also working with the elected state schools superintendent, Jack O’Connell, and the appointed state board of education.

“We don’t really know who is really in charge of putting together a plan, much less what the plan is,” said Ms. Hoffman. The Senate bill that Gov. Schwarzenegger supports, she said, “presents some very large policy challenges for school districts.”

Several local superintendents in California, however, have officially endorsed the governor’s approach.

“How can I possibly say that we shouldn’t compete as a state for this money?” said Joyce Bales, the superintendent of the 25,000-student Vista Unified School District, a northern San Diego County system where 56 percent of the children qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

“We’ve got low-performing schools to turn around,” she said, “and teachers that are working hard to be better for our students. We need this money to help us do that.”

A version of this article appeared in the December 09, 2009 edition of Education Week as Lure of ‘Race to the Top’ Roils California Legislature As Fiscal Crisis Continues

Events

Federal Webinar The Trump Budget and Schools: Subscriber Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
End Student Boredom: K-12 Publisher's Guide to 70% Engagement Boost
Calling all K-12 Publishers! Student engagement flatlining? Learn how to boost it by up to 70%.
Content provided by KITABOO
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management
Moving the Needle on Attendance: What’s Working NOW
See how family engagement is improving attendance, and how to put it to work in schools.
Content provided by TalkingPoints

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Linda McMahon Offers Few New Specifics on Ed. Dept. Budget Cuts
The Education Department wants to cut billions in spending but has offered few specifics on funding streams it wants to consolidate.
5 min read
Education Secretary Linda McMahon appears before the House Appropriation Panel about the 2026 budget in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 2025.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon appears before a House appropriations panel on May 21, 2025, to speak about her department's 2026 budget proposal. The budget would cut department spending by 15%.
Jason Andrew for Education Week
Education Funding Trump's Cancellation of States' COVID-Relief Funding Is on Hold Again
Pandemic-relief funds in 16 states have been temporarily restored—again—just days before they were set to expire.
3 min read
3d Render Red glossy Glass Dollar Sign icon in circle Blue Soft Maze, problems, solutions, strategy concept
iStock/Getty
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Education Funding Whitepaper
Different Dynamics: For-profit and Nonprofit Companies in the K-12 Education Sector
This whitepaper describes the results of an analysis exploring differences and similarities between nonprofit and for-profit organization...
Content provided by Ovedeck Family Foundation
Education Funding How Trump’s School Priorities Will Shape New Ed. Dept. Grants
The Department of Education on Tuesday announced the priorities it will use to award competitive grants.
6 min read
High school student teachers read a book to a preschool class.
High school student teachers read a book to a preschool class. Evidence-based literacy instruction will be one priority for the Trump administration as it awards competitive education grants. The priorities in those competitions will be school choice and "returning education to the states."
Allison Shelley for All4Ed