Perry won't let Texas compete for federal school money

[tonysam]

Texas will not compete for a potential $700 million in federal grant funding for schools, Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday, because it could give Washington too much say in deciding what the state's students should learn.

His decision to forgo the money available in the Race to the Top grant competition defied pleas from local school leaders who said their districts could use it. But Perry, joined by state Education Commissioner Robert Scott, said the funding came with too many federal strings — such as having to adopt national curriculum standards.

“Our states and our communities must reserve the right to decide how we educate our children and not surrender that control to a federal bureaucracy,” Perry said in Houston, where many superintendents had lobbied for his support of the grant.

Thirty-nine other states and the District of Columbia have told the U.S. Department of Education they intend to apply for the first round of the Race to the Top funding. The $4 billion will go to those that embrace certain reform efforts such as national standards, charter schools and the use of student test scores in teachers' job evaluations. Texas and Alaska are the only states not to join a common standards initiative.

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[adigal]

1. Too bad, southern states need the $$ the most

The majority of Texans must not value education - NYers would be tarring and feathering our governor if he did something so stupid!

[Craftsman]

2. The State of Texas has a $6 billion+ budget surplus

[abelenkpe]

3. Hmmmm

I don't like the idea of charter schools or using student test scores for evaluating teachers. I think charter schools are a way to privatize and undermine the public school system and using students scores to evaluate teachers will lead to schools pushing out slower students in order to improve scores. Ultimately such efforts would leave schools in economically depressed areas with poorly paid and disillusioned teachers and that can't be good for students. So while I think Gov. Rick Perry is generally an ass, he may be wise to avoid this program.

[whattheidonot]

5. more , slower

The answer to poor performance is more school time and slower teaching. When poor students spend more time in school and studying they do much better.

[whattheidonot]

4. to the right.

This a play to the right. It is not only education it is food stamps, assistance for the poor, health care, crime. Perry is going to get a challenge from the left from a reasonable opponent, the former Major of Houston. At this point Perry believes he has enough support in the rural ares to win. Will be interesting because Texas has many big cities and a changing population.
Turning down funds so the Bible can be taught is risky business. For a huge state like Texas to become uncompetitive in education is weird.

[noamnety]

6. Our faculty association refused to sign the race to the top paperwork.

I'm proud of them/us for that. It was nearly unanimous.