Teachers union balks at federal funding

Performance pay a sticking point on Race to the Top

Friday, March 12, 2010

The Charles County Board of Education voted in favor of jumping on the national Race to the Top bandwagon, a federal initiative that would give funding to school systems in exchange for their starting new initiatives to help better prepare students to be college- and career-ready.

At a Tuesday school board meeting, the school board took the stance that submitting proposals now could better the school system financially in the future, while the Education Association of Charles County stood strong in its efforts to not support the initiative, which according to the teachers union is a waste of time and energy.

"There is just not enough information," said Elizabeth Brown, president of the EACC, in a later interview.

States are competing for federal funding through the initiative and Maryland stands to receive $150 million to $250 million. In order to qualify for any of the state's share, counties must show their support in the race and provide the necessary paperwork, including current and long-term plans for new initiatives.

For whatever amount of money the state receives, board Chairwoman Roberta S. Wise explained last month, 50 percent stays with the state while 50 percent goes to counties. She said of the counties' 50 percent, half goes to the lowest performing jurisdictions which are currently Prince George's County and Baltimore city.

The first step in the process for counties is to have a memorandum of understanding signed by the county schools superintendent, president of the teachers union and chairwoman of the board of education.

Brown expressed the union's disinterest in the process Tuesday at a regularly scheduled board of education meeting.

She said the school system did not have the time or the resources to implement the type of reforms the initiative requires to receive what the union believes would be a small amount of funding which would disappear in one year.

"Although we recognize that in tough economic times, even the small amount we might receive would be welcome, we are opposed to the ‘top-down' style of reforms it contains," Brown said.

In addition to new programs, the initiative mandates performance pay for teachers, with teachers whose students perform better on standardized tests getting more money in salaries.

Brown said in a later interview that the union is also against more pay for better scores, saying that the union believes teacher pay is something "that should be bargained and negotiated."

Superintendent James E. Richmond expressed his concerns with board members Tuesday that if the school system didn't jump on board from the beginning it might miss the opportunity for additional federal funding in the future.

After attending a meeting where state school Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick was explaining some of the initiative, Richmond said he understood that additional federal funding would be made available in the form of grants but, if a school system isn't on board in the beginning, it wouldn't be allowed to receive the grants.

"I don't want to jeopardize our federal money," he said.

Richmond told board members that a focus group comprised of union members and school system staff would be formed and the group would meet later with representatives of the Maryland State Department of Education to try and work out an understanding on the initiative and provide MSDE with the focus group's ideas and concerns.

One of Richmond's concerns is that soon the competition could no longer be an option and states would tell school systems what to do.

Keith Hettel, the county's assistant superintendent of human resources, also told board members of the potential to lose funding if the board didn't get in at the beginning.

"The wagon is leaving to go to the [Maryland State] Department of Education. How many boards are going to be on the wagon?" he asked.

Board member Jennifer S. Abell quickly responded.

"The wagon doesn't have a horse pulling it yet," she said, indicating that there is little information available about the details of the initiative.

The school system, if the initial application is approved, would have 90 days to submit a plan to the state .

The board voted 4 to 3 to go ahead with the memorandum with the knowledge that the school system would jump on board initially and in coming months would have work sessions and meetings with focus groups to further iron out the details.

Voting against the decision were Abell, Maura H. Cook and Pamela A. Pedersen.

gphillips@somdnews.com