Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett released a list this week of more than 320 school corporations and public charter schools that signed on to participate in the state’s “Race to the Top.”
That means that roughly 90 percent of Indiana’s school corporations have agreed to effective education reform in exchange for their share of up to $250 million, if the state is chosen for the highly competitive federal grants.
The interest in the program “clearly illustrates Indiana is a reform-ready state,” Bennett said in a statement.
Not everybody, though, is excited about moving in “Fast Forward,” which is the name of Indiana’s Race to the Top initiative. Many Indiana State Teachers Association officials have either refused to sign their corporation’s agreement or attempted to water it down by adding conditions to their endorsement.
Currently, state officials are holding the details of their RTTT plan close to their chest until January 19, the deadline for states to apply for federal funds.
But we do know Indiana will adopt new K-12 standards in 2010, as well as methods for evaluating students to help them better transition into college or the workforce; develop a comprehensive statewide data system to track teachers, student progress, and other useful information; set up a fair and transparent system to evaluate educators based mostly on student growth; and devise ways for the state to ensure improvement of chronically failing schools.
From what we can tell, tangible changes are already underway, including progress with the data system, changes that help non-traditional teachers transition to the classroom, and new teacher license requirements that ensure educators are well versed in the subjects they teach.
These are changes crucial for the betterment of Indiana’s school system.
But nearly a third, or about 100, of the school applications turned into the state lacked signatures from the ISTA’s local leaders.
Ideally, the applications would include a signature from the corporation’s superintendent, school board president, and local union president.
Some believe ISTA’s obstruction is because school corporations “are not required to bargain” with the union over Fast Forward reforms, said Julie Slavens, staff attorney with the Indiana School Board Association.
“They want to be at the table and control everything school corporations do with regard to the Race to the Top” money, Slavens said.
Apparently, the ISTA isn’t too keen on the idea of linking student performance to teacher evaluation, a cornerstone of the state’s plan.
“They are holding the (agreements) over the corporation’s head,” Slavens said.
Some union officials took their opposition a step farther.
In an ISTA document titled Essentials for ISTA Local Presidents #2 dated Dec. 21, the union encouraged local representatives to attempt to trick corporations into signing a union-contrived “memorandum of agreement.”
That document, and there are several versions, “provides the framework for locals which … want to do what is necessary to secure the possibility of the school corporation receiving RTTT funds, while at the same time protecting your contract, securing an agreement on the local’s right to withdraw, and securing advance agreement on a sunset provision should funding be discontinued.”
In other words, it’s an attempt by the ISTA to control RTTT reforms and money.
“The union wants to be able to veto what the (school) board does,” Slavens said.
It remains unclear how many school corporations fell for the scheme. We’ve heard that the agreements were pushed on districts in the southern part of the state, as well as areas like Gary and Elkhart, which could desperately use the federal funds.
“If they have called in and asked us, we say don’t sign it,” Slavens said of the union document. “I have heard that some have, but I don’t know what version they signed.”
We at the Education Action Group Foundation applaud the hard work of state officials and appreciate the tough decisions facing Indiana’s school corporations. Their signatures show many corporations are committed to these long-overdue reforms.
We’re just discouraged that not everyone is motivated to that end. Indiana’s school children and taxpayers deserve better from the ISTA. Unfortunately, to this point the union has served as more of a road block for reforms than a role model for the teachers it represents.
Here are the corporations whose union presidents refused to endorse its agreement:
Randolph Southern School Corporation
Linton-Stockton School Corporation
Wes-Del Community Schools
West Washington School Corporation
School Town of Highland
East Chicago Urban Enterprise
Nettle Creek School Corporation
Southwestern-Jefferson County School Corporation
Central Noble Community School Corporation
Yorktown Community Schools
Decatur County Community Schools
South Harrison Community Schools
Shelby Eastern Schools
Rossville Consolidated School Corporation
Jay School Corporation
Southeast Fountain School Corporation
Hanover Community School Corporation
River Forest Community School Corporation
South Newton School Corporation
Southwestern Consolidated Schools Shelby County
Cannelton City Schools
East Gibson Community Schools
Greencastle Community School Corporation
Cloverdale Community Schools
Dr. Robert H Faulkner Academy
Vincennes Community School Corporation
MSD of North Posey County Schools
Shelbyville Central Schools
Crawfordsville Community Schools
Crawford County Community School Corporation
Lake Ridge Schools
Brownstown Central Community School Corporation
Zionsville Community Schools
South Montgomery Community School Corporation
Rochester Community School Corporation
West Noble School Corporation
Cass Township Schools
Bloomfield School District
Northeast Dubois County School Corporation
North Knox School Corporation
Northeastern Wayne School Corporation
North Newton School Corporation
Monroe-Gregg School District
Whitley County Consolidated Schools
Taylor Community School Corporation
South Knox School Corporation
Twin Lakes School Corporation
Scott County District 2
Medora Community School Corporation
Cowan Community School Corporation
Indiana School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Salem Community Schools
Union School Corporation
Milan Community Schools
Mitchell Community Schools
MSD of Martinsville Schools
Tri-County School Corporation
C A Bear Memorial School Corporation
Benton Community School Corporation
North Putnam Community School Corporation
North Daviess Community Schools
New Prairie United School Corporation
Delaware Community School Corporation
MSD Southwest Allen County
Community Schools of Frankfort
MSD of Shakamak Schools
Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson United School Corporation
Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools
North Spencer County Community School Corporation
Frontier School Corporation
White River Valley School District
East Washington School Corporation
MSD Washington Township
Pike County School Corporation
Triton School Corporation
Western Boone School Corporation
Washington Community Schools
New Community School
Northwestern School Corporation
South Putnam School Corporation
Richmond Community Schools
North Harrison Community Schools
Lawrenceburg Community School Corporation
Southwest Parke Community School Corporation
Lanesville Community School Corporation
Eastern Greene Schools
Greenfield Central School Corporation
Tippecanoe School Corporation
Kankakee Valley School Corporation
Lebanon Community School Corporation
Center Grove Community School Corporation
West Clark Community Schools
Union County College Corner Joint School District
New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated Schools
Madison Consolidated Schools
South Spencer County School Corporation
Clinton Central School Corporation
Carmel Clay Schools
MSD of Lawrence