Results tagged “race to the top” from EdLabor Journal

UPDATE: The breakfast has concluded. Visit their website for the archive of the event.

Join Chairman Miller, Randi Weingarten, Tim Daly, Lisa Guernsey and Carmel Martin for a lively discussion about education and education policy in America.

The National Journal's website says: 

There is consensus in the education sector that the American school system must transition from one designed around an agrarian and industrial society to one that meets the demands of the knowledge economy. The Obama administration has poured an unprecedented amount of money—upwards of $100 billion—toward accomplishing that goal. How far have we come and how much further do we need to go? As a means of addressing this question, we will take stock of the administration's key education initiatives as well as state-led efforts and ultimately, how the weakened economy has affected these programs. Race to the Top, reauthorization of No Child Left Behind and Common Core, among other topics, will be examined.

Alyson Klein at Education Week has an excellent round up of President Obama's 2011 education budget proposal:

The president’s fiscal year 2011 budget, slated to be released Monday, will seek a 6.2 percent increase to the U.S. Department of Education’s budget, including up to $4 billion more for K-12 education. The department’s discretionary budget for fiscal 2010 is roughly $63.7 billion.

A large piece of the increase, $1.35 billion, would be aimed at extending beyond this year the $4 billion in economic-stimulus program Race to the Top grants and opening up the competition—now limited to states—to school districts. The president highlighted the Race to the Top saying it had “broken through the stalemate between left and right,” and pledged to expand the reform priorities of that competition—among them turning around failing schools and increasing the supply of effective teachers—to all 50 states.

“The idea here is simple,” he said. “Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform­—reform that raises student achievement, inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to inner cities.”

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President Obama also called on Congress to pass legislation that would make sweeping changes to the student loan program and redirect money from the projected savings to building new school facilities and bolstering community colleges, early-childhood-education programs, and Pell Grants, which help low-income students pay for college.

Chairman Miller said after the speech:

“I am especially pleased that President Obama called on Congress to rewrite our nation’s federal education laws. The key to getting this done will be bipartisanship. I plan to begin working on this immediately with this administration, Congressman Kline, our colleagues on the House Education and Labor Committee and all parties that have ideas about how to improve our schools.

“Throughout his speech, President Obama talked about changing the way Washington works. One way we can do just that is by enacting legislation already passed by the House that would invest billions of dollars to help families pay for college – at no cost to taxpayers – by eliminating taxpayer subsidies for student loan middle men. Ending these subsidies will save $87 billion that we can invest directly in our college students and in improving early education and community colleges. It’s a much better use of taxpayer dollars.

We encourage you to read the entire Education Week article. Click on the links to learn more about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Race to the Top, and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Ruth Marcus has a column in today's Washington Post about President Obama's quiet success on schools. She writes:

Cutting out this "unwarranted subsidy," as Obama put it in a speech Monday, would free up almost $90 billion over 10 years. The House would use the largest chunk of that money to raise Pell Grant amounts for low-income college students; the grant amounts have lagged far behind increases in tuition costs.

The money is also directed in other, innovative ways. About $10 billion would go to community colleges -- the biggest infusion of federal cash ever to these institutions.

Colleges would get $2.5 billion to figure out how to keep track of how many students manage to graduate, as opposed to piling up debt and then dropping out. In the House, private colleges were able to wiggle out of this requirement; the Senate ought to hold them to it.

Another $8 billion would go to early childhood education programs, which vary widely in quality, with the goal of establishing some standards and accountability for preschool programs.

Meanwhile, the administration has seized on education funding in the stimulus bill to push its reform agenda. The stimulus included $4.35 billion for competitive grants to states to improve elementary and secondary education -- the largest-ever amount of discretionary federal funding for school reform. The administration's proposed regulations on these Race to the Top funds require that any state wishing to compete for the money must lift restrictions on the number of charter schools and get rid of laws or rules that prohibit linking teacher pay to student performance.

Seven states -- Tennessee, Rhode Island, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado and Illinois -- have revoked their limits on charter schools. The California legislature set aside a 2006 law that prohibited using student performance data to evaluate teachers.

Finally, the appropriations bills moving through Congress would further the reform push. Most important, they would dramatically boost funding -- from $97 million in 2009 to as much as $446 million in 2010 -- to offer higher pay to teachers and principals who improve performance in high-poverty schools.

The Education and Labor Committee has been a strong partner with the White House in passing the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act as well as ensuring funding for the Race to the Top.