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State loses chance for up to $700 million when dropped from federal grants competition

By Chris Levister –

Imagine Olympic speed skating sensation Apolo Anton Ohno being disqualified from competing in the final race for the Gold and his reaction being, well – slightly relieved.

That was the reaction on Friday from some teacher’s union leaders after learning that California was disqualified from competing for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal school reform funds.

Fifteen other states and Washington D.C. are in the running for billions in federal grants as part of President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative.

“I won’t say that I’m in sorrow of California losing it. There wasn’t a great deal of support,” said Marty Hittelman, president of the California Federation of Teachers. The union had opposed for example, basing teacher evaluations on standardized tests they say are flawed.

Others who had pushed hard for the funds, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), expressed disappointment.

“This decision by the Obama Administration demonstrates that we need to be more aggressive and bolder in reforming our education system. While the reforms we passed did move our state forward, they did not go far enough because other states were more competitive,” said Schwarzenegger. “I will continue to fight for additional education reforms to make California truly competitive for the billions of dollars our students desperately need – the people of California expect nothing less.”

Ironically the decision was released on the eve of the state’s “Day of Action” massive protests throughout California to protest drastic state budget cuts made to education.

Race to the Top offers money in exchange for a commitment to education reforms. Reforms that includes more challenging academic standards, better testing to measure what students know, rigorous evaluation systems for teachers and principals, plans for turning around failing schools, cutting-edge data systems to track progress, and state laws that establish "successful conditions” for high-performing charter schools and other innovative schools.

"We're going to raise the bar for all our students and take bigger steps towards closing the achievement gap that denies so many students, especially Black and Latino students, a fair shot at their dreams," Obama told a group of sixth-graders last week.

“Our children deserve quality education and God knows we need money but not at the expense of foregoing local oversight in exchange for a government subsidy and mandates,” said San Bernardino second grade teacher Josita Arias.

“If you take the cover off this, it’s all about resistance to accountability,” said Dr. James Samuels a local psychologist who last year removed his son from Wilson Elementary School. The San Bernardino school was listed this week as being among the worst 5 percent in the state.

“It’s pretty clear the system is broken and dead broke. However in this case it’s just as easy to engage in resisting change while allowing our children to fail.”

State officials had not planned exactly how to use the money, but California’s exclusion is yet another financial blow in a state confronting an unprecedented multibillion dollar budget crisis. School districts up and down the state are bracing for teacher layoffs, increased class sizes and fewer electives.

San Bernardino County School Superintendent Gary Thomas says, while local districts would have had to make changes to meet grant guidelines, “even if the county had received federal funds this go-round it would not have solved the daunting financial challenges districts face in terms of next year’s budgets.”

“Those funds could not have been applied directly to school district’s budget deficits – the money had to be used for specific reform efforts – but they would have helped significantly,” said Schwarzenegger.

Federal education officials said privately, the reason the state, which has some of the nations lowest performing schools, didn’t get selected is because there weren’t enough significant reforms in their application.

State and local officials still have a shot at Race to the Top funding.

California can apply for a second round of funding by June.