I hope those who would defend local control of education will prevail.

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http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_educ...-good-idea.html

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Lake School Board still isn’t sure whether Race to the Top grant is a good idea

Lake Schools Superintendent Susan Moxley told the School Board at a workshop today that even though she has a variety of concerns, she supports pursuing the federal Race to the Top grant.

The federal government is offering states billions of dollars to make sweeping changes to improve student achievement. Competition is expected to be fierce for the Race to the Top grant, which, among other things, will require school districts to take the controversial step of paying teachers based on merit instead of seniority.

Florida is trying for hundreds of millions of dollars, and districts have until Jan. 12 to tell the state whether they’d like to participate if Florida wins the funds.

Today, Lake School Board members weighed the pros and cons of going after the grant. On Monday night, they’re scheduled to vote on the issue.

“I see this as a very positive opportunity to do some redesign efforts we need to do in public education and in Lake County,” Moxley told the board, adding that the feds may eventually require everyone to make these changes in coming years.

“I believe this is just an indication of what’s to come with greater accountability,” she said.

Here are some of the pros and cons outlined at the workshop:

Pros:

1) The grant would provide a new funding stream at a time when Florida public schools’ financial future is uncertain. Everybody’s worried about budget cuts next school year. Federal stimulus money runs out in a year and a half.

2) Receiving this grant could allow the district to qualify for other grants.

Cons:

1) No one knows yet how much grant money Lake would get, which means no one knows whether Lake would receive enough money to cover the costs of the required changes.

2) It’s unclear exactly what Lake would be required to do yet the district must decide next week whether it wants to participate.

“We’re being asked to agree to things we have no idea what they are,” School Board attorney Steve Johnson told the board.

Moxley said the district is researching whether it can opt out of the agreement if the changes turn out to be too expensive or if the district can’t uphold its end of the bargain for some other reason.