Lawmakers, Department Lace-up Shoes for “Race to the Top”

With final federal guidelines for the U.S. Department of Education's "Race to the Top" (RTTT) program now available, the legislature and Michigan Department of Education (MDE) are scrambling to pass legislation and assemble Michigan’s grant application before the mid-January final deadline.

The House Committee on Education has now identified several bills as being components of what it sees as legislation necessary to make Michigan competitive for the grant. Additional bills may yet be introduced as some components of the grant requirements (such as tenure reform) are not addressed by any of the bills already under consideration.

The list currently includes:

• HB 4787-4789 or SB 981-983, the “Failing Schools” package. These bills address the RTTT requirement to have a process for turning-around the lowest performing 5% of schools.
• SB 965, alternative teacher certification. This bill would instruct the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop an alternative, fast-tracked path for teacher certification that reduces coursework and shifts the focus to intensive on-the-job support for new teachers.
• SB 925-26, the “Schools of Excellence” package. Race to the Top requires the expansion of so-called “high-performing” charter schools. These bills attempt to address that need by effectively opening the charter cap for those schools who receive a grade of “A” from the state accreditation system.
• HB 5609 / 5610, teacher-student performance linkage. These bills require job performance and job accomplishments as measured by student’s performance on standardized tests (among other things) to be used to determine compensation and allow the Department of Human Services to open up a child negligence case if parents don't ensure their kids attend school regularly.

Mandatory Administrator Certification

Mandatory administrator certification has been proposed as a part of Michigan’s RTTT application. While no bill has yet been introduced, Representative Valentine (D-Muskegon) is in the process of developing legislation. MASA is following this issue closely, but finds no connection to this idea anywhere in the RTTT criteria.

More information on Michigan’s bid for “Race to the Top” can be found in the two most recent MASA Legislative Updates which are available on MASA’s website.

Listen to Governor Jennifer M. Granholm’s recent radio address on Race to the Top:

Full:  http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov224Full_301371_7.mp3
Edited:  http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov224Edit_301372_7.mp3
Quote:  http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov224Quote_301374_7.mp3