When Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced states could competitively bid for $4.35 billion in Race to the Top grants — an unprecedented dispersal of stimulus funds for education — it was immediately apparent Wisconsin was in deep trouble. Wisconsin is one of four states with statutes barring public schools from using student performance (in our case, one standardized test, the Wisconsin Knowledge Concepts Examination) as criteria in teacher evaluations and pay decisions. Despite Gov. Jim Doyle’s insistence, our current statutes would not bar Wisconsin from competition, the secretary of education has not been reticent about his distaste for Wisconsin’s policy here. Bottom line: Our law needs to change, or Mr. Duncan will show no generosity.
Milwaukee Public Schools is failing. And it is vital Wisconsin be eligible for this competitive-bidding process, especially since $3.5 billion of the available grants will be school improvement grants. That’s why we support legislation from state Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, and Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, to bring Wisconsin’s law in line with the secretary of education’s eligibility criteria for this competitive bidding process. One might wish for a more “need-based” allocation of stimulus education funds, but it would be a tragedy if the teachers unions tied Wisconsin’s hands so that we missed this unique financial opportunity.
Yet, as with most things related to the stimulus, it is unclear what measures would be sufficient for the Department of Education. For example, it is vital school districts, MPS especially, retain their ability to rate teachers holistically; a variety of factors influence student test scores, not all of them within teachers’ control. The best teacher is still only as good as the home life, English language abilities and psychological health of the students. And yet the Department of Education has not specified whether such “value-added,” holistic criteria would render Wisconsin less eligible for stimulus funds, even if test score-based teacher evaluations are legalized. We hope the mere removal of problematic language from state statutes will be sufficient to qualify Wisconsin for stimulus funds, but we desire more specificity from Mr. Duncan on this point.
For that matter, this particular competitive bidding process is rife with maddening ambiguities. This particular Race to the Top feels blind and barely guided. For example, one criterion mentioned by Mr. Duncan involves whether all relevant education-focused state entities are on board for enacted reforms. We hope Mr. Duncan is not counting on the Wisconsin Teachers Union endorsing any measure to hold them more accountable for student standardized test scores, since the soon-to-be deleted statutory language was their preferred policy in the first place. And while this Editorial Board has mixed opinions on the merits of Mr. Duncan’s championing of charter schools as key elements in reform efforts, we all agree reforming public schools themselves should remain Wisconsin’s main priority — and we hope Mr. Duncan respects this as we bid for federal dollars.
Nobody in Wisconsin is unconcerned with failing schools — not Mr. Doyle, not the teachers unions, neither Republicans nor Democrats and certainly not the parents and students who have spent years within public school systems incapable of educating. Wisconsin should do everything possible to make itself eligible for Race to the Top grants. But reform should still happen on its watch, under unambiguous guidelines.
