So Where Did Mr. Obama's Race to the Top $$$$ Actually.... You Know.... Go?

[Smarmie Doofus]

Well... not to kids or classrooms apparently. At least, not in NYC.

Ok, OK; I'll end the suspense: BUREAUCRACY.

Are ya' shocked ? You shouldn't be. Ravitch and others were saying this from the get-go. It's sort of the WMD of the Obama era. The hidden, unspeakable secret: "reform" is actually...................... (wait for it)....... *CORRUPTION*.

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/07/05/in-nyc-most-of-race-to-top-funding-paid-for-more-bureaucrats/

>>>>>>Aaron Short of the New York Post shows how New York City used the $107 million in Race to the Top funding that it received during the Bloomberg administration.

Let’s just sat it was NOT a game-changer:

“Bureaucrats are winning the Race to the Top.

“Less than a quarter of the $107 million that the school system received in federal Race to The Top funds last year was sent directly to school principals.

“The decision on how to spend most of the money — $83 million — was made by the central Department of Education, which channeled the federal funds to support staff, consultants and fringe benefits, according to a study by the Independent Budget Office.”

A spokesperson for the DOE defended the allocation of funds to central office, saying that it takes a lot of people to run such a big system.

My question: why is the de Blasio administration defending the bad decisions of the Bloomberg administration?>>>>


".... it takes a lot of people to run such a big system." Spokesperson's got THAT right. If you've ever been there ( NYC DOE) you'd know just how true.... and SAD... that is.

[NYC_SKP]

1. It's not like that's some exceptional treatment of funds by the industry.

And that “Less than a quarter of the $107 million" that went to principals?

How much do you think was spent on resources, field trips, school equipment, etc.?

In my experience, not even half.

It's just the way it rolls. I have seen how the sausage is made, and it' ain't pretty.

It's corrupt, often.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Except for the last sentence I don't really understand your post.

Last edited Sun Jul 6, 2014, 11:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Perhaps you can restate. ( Or maybe it's just me.)

But you remind me that of the less than 1/4 that building principals actually get their hands on, ( in the NYC system) a lot of that is typically wasted on pet projects or otherwise frivolously squandered or simply purloined.

So it's really a lot LESS than 23% that actually is spent in the actual classroom on actual kids.


Edit: oops. Bad math. Evil, evil math.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Federally based funding, unless very well designed, has a way of dwindling on its way to the target.

My first instinct and intention was to provide a bit of defense of Obama because the subject line seems a bit unfair.

RTTT funds were part of ARRA (recovery act) and never designed to exclusively wind up being spent on classroom resources.

Research, development of standards, and reforms to data gathering were among the non-resource items to be funded, so it's not like the funds were entirely taken away from their intended goals.

Also, your own excerpt proves that the fault lays with the admins in NYC (not to suggest that you meant to blame Obama).

Mostly, we agree.

My point was that even at the school level there are further ways the funds are eroded.

So that yes, a lot less than the 1/4 will ever see the classroom, if NYC principals are like many of the ones I've known.

PS, the shifty handling of funds usually takes place at the district level. Sitting in on Superintendent meetings and lunches taught me that.

It's a sad state of affairs.

[Smarmie Doofus]

9. Got it now. Thanks. But:

>>>Research, development of standards, and reforms to data gathering were among the non-resource items to be funded, so it's not like the funds were entirely taken away from their intended goals. >>>>>

This may be but we all know that that's not how it was SOLD to the states and to the public. We really don't have to go back to all those tedious editorials in the NY rags warning of the irresponsibility of the union and the precious few skeptical politicians and how the aforementioned were going to be "held responsible" if these millions of RTTP bucks were "lost."

Think of the children! Oh the humanity!!

>>>Also, your own excerpt proves that the fault lays with the admins in NYC (not to suggest that you meant to blame Obama). >>>

Well, I blame them both. Everyone here knows ( or OUGHT to know) that the school system is basically corrupt. ( No not every single individual; but as Jack Nicholson says in Chinatown, "we all have to swim in the same water.&quot

And I blame Obama for not recognizing his limits. He knows *nothing* about public education. This, in itself, he cannot help. But a prudent responsible individual would find people to advise him that DO know something. Instead he surrounds himself with other "tabulas rasa" ( Arne Duncan, for example) and you then have EXPONENTIAL ignorance.

>>>PS, the shifty handling of funds usually takes place at the district level. Sitting in on Superintendent meetings and lunches taught me that.>>>>>


Off topic, but not really: were you a principal? You can pm me if you want or don't answer at all.

[Doctor_J]

2. He's going to end up being the most corporate-friendly prez ever

Not the "change" all of those voters were hoping for in 2008. My sig line says a lot

[frazzled]

4. Dropout rates are down, graduation rates are up

The high school graduation rate has topped 80 percent for the first time in U.S. history — and if states can keep up their rapid pace of improvement, the rate could hit 90 percent by 2020, according to federal data released Monday.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/high-school-graduation-rate-could-hit-90-percent-106085.html#ixzz36k9Fqt6M

See also: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-04-25/opinion/ct-dropout-crisis-chicago-solution-perspec-0425-20140425_1_school-graduation-graduation-rate-new-heights

[ConservativeDemocrat]

10. Shush with the facts. This is the DU. We're *whining* here.

About how bad a Democratic President is, naturally.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[MiniMe]

6. While I don't like some of the things that he has done,

I will still give him the respect he is due by addressing him as President Obama instead of Mr. Obama. You sound like a repub when you address him as Mr. Obama.

[senseandsensibility]

7. I understand what you're saying, but I remember the corporate media,

even the Bush *&&%%## kissing corporate media, which was almost all of it, referred to GW Bush as Mr. Bush. There is a tradition of doing this with all Presidents.

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. That... no offense... is ridiculous. n/t

[nikto]

11. But the consolation prize is that...

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2014, 10:56 PM - Edit history (1)

Thousands of capable teachers across the country had their careers despoiled or cut-short,
at the whim of snorting, self-serving bureaucrats-administrators.

Some prize, eh?

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. Collateral damage. Just like in Iraq. Lives ruined, families wrecked ....

... so that... in the case of ed "reform"..... trust-fund dilettantes and foundation gravy-trainers can have something to "do".


"There are things we know we know and things we know we don't know.... yada yada yada."

[nikto]

14. It is an ongoing American tragedy

[progressoid]

13. aaayup.