Race to the Top, Part 2: Florida now has strong teacher-union backing

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Florida will try again for a coveted Race to the Top federal education grant Tuesday — this time with the blessing of its teachers' unions.

The state is hoping that union support, conspicuously absent during the first bid that failed, will propel it to a $700-million win in the second round of the federal education competition.

The state's new application will retain key provisions from its first try, touting Florida's track record of school reform, commitment to overhauling struggling campuses and an embrace — at least in theory — of merit pay for teachers.

But its second-round effort also will showcase support from teachers unions, which had criticized and then shunned Florida's first push to win millions of dollars from the school reform program.

"Our application is the same application we had previously," said Education Commissioner Eric Smith, calling it a "good, strong" plan. "The big difference … the state teachers' association is supportive of the direction we're going in."

The Florida Education Association dubbed the state's first Race to the Top plan "fatally flawed," and only five local unions signed the grant paperwork. The objections focused mostly on the plan's merit-pay provisions, which would have tied teachers' salaries to student test scores.

more . . . http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-race-to-top-second-try-05-26-10-20100530,0,5393143.story