WASHINGTON — Minnesota will apply for a share of $500 million in early education grants this year during the next round of the Race for the Top competition, Gov. Mark Dayton announced Wednesday.
This will be the third time the U.S. Department of Education will give out of Race to the Top grants, and the second time Minnesota will apply for one. Last year, Minnesota’s first round application was rejected by the government, and under then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the state did not apply for the program’s second round.
The $500 million contest for early education dollars is the largest part of 2011’s version of the Race to the Top contest, which gives large grants for states that best demonstrate their investment in K-12 education. There is also $200 million at stake for the nine states that applied for but did not receive Race to the Top grants during their second round of competition last year. The government will announce its winners before the end of the year.
Dayton said he has directed Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius to begin preparing the state’s application. He acknowledged there are some hurdles to winning a grant, chief among them, reaching a budget deal with the state Legislature, where Republicans passed a budget that cut school funding by $44 million over the next biennium.
Dayton had also requested funding for a program called Parent Aware, which tracks the quality of early education providers. “That funding would have positioned Minnesota to be competitive for the new round of Race to the Top funds,” Dayton said in a statement. “However, the Legislature stripped early childhood funding and policy provisions from the education bill I vetoed yesterday.”
In his Tuesday veto letter, Dayton also rebuked Republicans’ attempts to change other state education policies, including those relating to all-day kindergarten funding and teacher and student evaluation standards, components that could be especially important to the state’s Race to the Top application.
The U.S. Department of Education outlined three broad requirements for states that enter the new competition: states should increase enrollment among children from low-income families, “design and implement an integrated system of high-quality learning programs and services,” and use only progress assessments that mesh with National Research Council recommendations. The criteria are vague — federal officials said they are still working out the exact details of what they want to see in state reforms.
“We’re looking for courage, commitment, capacity and creativity,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said at a press conference.
Republican Rep. John Kline, the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, has expressed skepticism about the Race to the Top program. When asked for his opinion on the new plan Wednesday, staff pointed to an interview he gave Tuesday with radio host Bill Bennett.
“It’s all stick and carrot with Race to the Top,” he said. “You do what the Secretary [of Education] thinks is a good thing to do and you get rewarded, and if you don’t, you get punishment. That’s the problem … where you get the federal government starting to push a national curriculum or insisting on one.
“We don’t want the Secretary of Education to decide what the curriculum is in every school in America.”
Race to the Top was born out of the 2009 stimulus law as a $4.35 billion incentive for states that demonstrated innovative forms of education and high degrees of student achievement. Minnesota applied for the program right away, with broad support among state officials and school districts. Theoretical support from the state’s teachers union, Education Minnesota, cooled as the application’s details solidified and the union eventually wrote a letter to Duncan shortly before his final decision saying it couldn’t endorse the state’s application.
In a statement Wednesday, Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher welcomed Dayton’s intent to reapply to the program.
“Education Minnesota has long advocated making effective early childhood learning programs available everywhere in the state. These programs are critical to closing the achievement gap in our schools, and improving education for all students will help ensure economic prosperity in our state for generations to come,” he said. “Education Minnesota is committed to working with everyone involved in education to improve learning for our students. A renewed emphasis on early childhood learning and a commitment to making it a priority would be major steps toward a stronger Minnesota.”
President Barack Obama included $900 million for Race to the Top in his 2012 budget request. The grants would “focus on cost-effective reforms that improve student achievement in an era of tight budgets,” according to the request. Congress is intensely debating — and remains months away from finalizing — a 2012 budget, so it’s unclear if that money will eventually be appropriated.
Devin Henry is an intern in MinnPost’s Washington Bureau. He can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.
Related
