Think Tank Critical of Proposed Race to the Top Legislation

 Administration's School Reform Bills Fail to Innovate Maine Schools

PORTLAND - A Portland-based think tank said today that school reform legislation proposed by the Baldacci administration isn't even close to the kind of bold innovation demanded by the U.S. Department of Education's multibillion-dollar Race to the Top grant program.

"There are few words to describe how disappointing these proposals are," said Stephen Bowen, who directs the Center for Education Excellence at The Maine Heritage Policy Center. "Other states have taken bold steps in response to President Obama's call for real education reform.  What the Baldacci administration has proposed is embarrassingly weak."

Under the guidelines of the Race to the Top grant, Maine could receive up to $70 million in federal funding to help foster educational innovation and reform. The grant program is competitive, however. "We have to show Washington that Maine is a prudent place to invest school reform dollars if we have any hope of winning a grant," said Bowen. "That means we need to be more ambitious, more creative, and more innovative than the states we're up against. The governor's proposals achieve none of these things."

The Baldacci administration has proposed three separate bills which it claims will make Maine more competitive for Race to the Top funding:

·         LD 1799 allows the use of student assessment data in teacher evaluations.  Rather than let local school districts develop new teacher evaluation systems of their own, the bill requires use of evaluation models developed by the state Department of Education. "This is yet another example of the administration's top-down approach to reform," said Bowen. "It is designed to put the bureaucrats in Augusta and their allies in the education establishment in the driver's seat."

·         LD 1800 allows Maine to adopt academic standards common with those of other states, a change designed to answer the Obama administration's call for national standards for academic achievement. "The bill changes only one line of state law and even that one line says the state 'may' adopt common standards, but does not require it," said Bowen. "This sends Washington a message that Maine lacks commitment to reform."

·         LD 1801 establishes what the administration calls "innovative schools."  The one page bill allows existing school districts to create "an innovative autonomous public school," but not a public charter school. "These supposedly autonomous schools will be run by the very same people who run our schools today and must abide by virtually all existing state law governing public schools.  This bill fails to create autonomous schools in any way," Bowen said.

According to the Baldacci administration, "innovative" schools must have "a system for accountability for student achievement that exceeds but is not in conflict with" the state's existing accountability system.  This means such schools must operate two assessment systems - one of their own and the state's testing program.  "It is also important to note that only those assessment systems related to student achievement get special consideration under the law. Teachers and administrators in such schools are no more accountable under this bill than they were before, and not nearly as accountable as they would be under a charter school model," Bowen explained.

While the so-called autonomous schools proposed in LD 1801 may have discretion with regard to things like staffing and school calendars, such changes must not conflict with state law.  "That means all the teachers in these schools must be certified just as they are today, despite a lack of evidence that teacher certification correlates with student achievement, and the same rules and regulations burdening schools today remain in place," said Bowen. "How can anyone look at this bill and say with a straight face that these schools will be autonomous or innovative?"

"Compared to other states' reforms, this package of legislation is unimaginably inadequate," said Bowen. "Michigan changed state law to increase the number of charter schools and strengthen accountability measures for persistently failing schools. California law was changed to provide school choice rights to parents with children in underperforming schools. Massachusetts adopted statutory changes that make it easier for school administrators to remove ineffective teachers. 39 states now have charter schools, yet the Baldacci administration thinks a one page bill allowing 'innovative schools' will win us a Race to the Top grant."

"The research Steve has done makes clear that the Obama administration set the school reform bar very high," said Tarren Bragdon, chief executive officer of the Maine Heritage Policy Center. "We were hopeful the governor would rise to the challenge, follow the lead of those states that have adopted meaningful reforms and advance a bold agenda to dramatically improve Maine's schools. Instead, he took orders from the education establishment and proposed one of the weakest school reform packages proposed in the country. This is a huge disappointment for Maine students, and a national embarrassment."
 
To read Bowen's recent paper on Maine's chances of winning a Race to the Top grant, CLICK HERE.