Skip to main content

"Race to the Top" is code for right-wing destruction of, and is war on, California's Schools

Submitted by Tjadendevries on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 6:10pm

Stung By "Race To The Top", Will California Repeal So-Called Reforms?

 by: Robert Cruickshank Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 13:00:00 PM PST

    It was an idea so audacious that even the Bush Administration didn't dare try it. Arne Duncan, President Obama's radical Education Secretary, pushed for and received $4.35 billion in stimulus funds for K-12 education. But Duncan didn't plan to just hand the money out to states desperately in need of federal funds just to keep the schools open and teachers in the classrooms. He linked the stimulus funds to a series of right-wing educational "reforms" designed to even further emphasize testing, link teacher pay and performance to those tests (regardless of the other qualifications and achievements of those teachers).

    . The most stunning piece of this program, which was called "Race To The Top," was that states had to adopt these reforms without any guarantee they'd get a dime for their trouble. The Race to the Top grants were competitive in nature, so states were being asked to make fundamental changes in the way their schools operated merely for a chance at a sliver of federal funds.

    Arnold Schwarzenegger enthusiastically embraced the reforms, and Sacramento Democrats went along, although they had deep reservations about doing so. And yet the Obama Administration rejected California's grant application anyway.

    [...]