Education voices silent

U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan designated $4.35 billion earmarked for competitive grants for the Race to the Top (RTTT) to improve education quality and results nationwide. As with any federal program there are evaluation criteria that must be met. Under the RTTT, Secretary Duncan mandated 19 “absolute criteria” under five general categories that must be met by every state or school district that applies for funding.

The 19 criteria cannot be met without changing state laws on charter schools and eliminating continuing contract laws (tenure). State superintendents, members of state school boards, leaders of teachers, or leaders of administrators have not spoken out about this blatantly coercive takeover of public schools.

The U. S. Supreme Court has held that “Financial inducements of federal spending programs must not be coercive.” The RTTT is coercive, requiring even-higher-stakes tests for students, plus costly and useless accountability systems. RTTT has a “precondition” to implement charter schools where none exists. The money is not focused on helping classroom teachers do better.

The RTTT is a further attempt to privatize the public schools with the public footing the bill and is a direct attack on the U.S. 10th Amendment – states’ rights.

Donald C. Orlich

Pullman