What is this "Race to the Top" bullcrap?

[itsrobert]

Just saw they are awarding 100's of millions of dollars to schools who win some sort of contest. Looks like it has a distinct East Coast bias because no schools west of the Mississippi was awarded funds.

[dkf]

1. Hawaii got $75 million.

That would have fixed our furlough problem last year. Irony is we got the money partly because we fixed the furloughs.

[itsrobert]

2. Sorry, I didn't see Hawaii on the CBS tv map

Obviously they are West of the Mississippi.

[dkf]

7. Odds are they didn't show us anyway.

It was quite the stunner when we were announced as a finalist. Our DOE needed this after the pounding they took in public opinion over the furloughs. Funny thing was that with less days of instruction the scores were slightly up.

Teachers concentrated more on the basics and cut the field trips out

[HereSince1628]

3. It does look geographically biased

but then my state was a loser so I am sure what I am seeing is prejudiced by my disappointment. Or not.

[AlinPA]

4. PA didn't win this round.

[vi5]

5. Well, I'm in NJ...

..and we lost out on the funds by 4.8 points because we got 5 points deducted because our hard-nosed Republican governer and his staff re-did the forms after a deal was supposedly cut with the teachers unions and the forms filled out, and he went back and changed them and left out key budget information.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Specifically, our governor did not read the question correctly and gave

the wrong answer. That cost us 5 points.

[vi5]

10. I just could not believe that....

..my jaw was on the floor when I opened up the Ledger today and read that.

Mr. Accountability.

Although I love how the Ledger in their editorial still managed to spin this as the NJEA's fault and not Christi or Schundlers.

[stray cat]

8. It requires some homework to know the details -not a good bumper sticker

[MadHound]

9. It is a combination of the worst of Bush standardized testing,

Merit pay for teachers based on those tests, and the opening up of recipient states to unlimited charter schools.

It is the bait to allow this administration push forward their goal of destroying public education.

I'm immensely thankful that my state didn't qualify.

[msongs]

11. its a scam to transfer taxpayer $ to for profit corporate friends of the administration nt

[DCKit]

12. Like "Clear Skies", "Healthy Forests", "NCLB" or "Clean Coal"...

it's exactly the opposite of what it says it is - a "Race to the Bottom" facilitated by privatizing our public education system.

It's all about $$$$$$$ for corporations.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. It's a series of grants.

The bastards.