Schools pool funds to comply with Race to the Top

HARLEM VALLEY —  The state of New York has received approximately $700 million in funding for the educational initiative, Race to the Top, the maximum available to any single state. But only half of that money will be distributed to local school districts, and smaller districts, like the Pine Plains Central School District and the Webutuck Central School District, are finding that the money coming in isn’t enough to cover the program’s requirements.

Race to the Top is a federal Department of Education program aimed at promoting reform in state education programs. Through the stimulus package, approximately $4.35 billion will be distributed to the “winners� — those states that successfully apply for funding.

New York was one of nine states, along with the District of Columbia, awarded funds after a second round of applications announced roughly a month ago. Only two states were named as winners of the first round. Several states have criticized the program and some, Texas most notably, chose not to apply for funding.

Pine Plains will be receiving approximately $46,000 during the next four years, although the district will not receive any money the first year. Funds will come to the district during three years starting with the 2011-12 school year. Webutuck will receive only around $27,000 and is under a similar schedule as Pine Plains. Neither superintendent knew how their district’s allocation was arrived at.

“I don’t think anybody knows,� Webutuck Superintendent Steven Schoonmaker said.

The spending mandates for the money are broken up as follows: up to 75 percent is to be spent establishing a network team for the district, which will be responsible for working on a number of initiatives as part of the Race to the Top program, including adopting national core standards in English, Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. Other areas include refinements to electronic student information systems and a “toughening� of the standards of state testing, particularly in the fourth and eighth grades as well as Regents exams, according to Pine Plains Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer, whose district opted for the maximum 75 percent.

From the remainder, 25 percent will have to be used on a new teacher and principal evaluation system, and negotiations are expected between the district and the representing teachers’ and administration’s unions after the details of the new evaluation system are made available. That leaves nothing else for Pine Plains and 5 percent ($1,351.20 for three years) for Webutuck, which it will probably spend on curriculum and professional development.

The cost of hiring three full-time professionals to form the required network team in Pine Plains would far exceed the funds given to the district, both superintendents explained, and the amount of time needed would eliminate the possibility of the requirements being handled by current administration. Therefore, both Pine Plains and Webutuck are pooling their resources with other school districts in the county under the umbrella of Dutchess County BOCES (Board of Cooperative Education Services), which will be assisting the districts through the planning and cost analysis of the requirements.

“It was the most cost-effective route, we felt, to leverage our dollars,� Kaumeyer said.

Pine Plains and Webutuck both had the option of opting out of the program, as some school districts in the state have done, and that became a topic of conversation at the Nov. 3 Pine Plains Board of Education (BOE) meeting.

Board Trustee Todd Bowen expressed concerns that opting in would open up the district for additional mandates down the road, but the remainder of the board said that since the state was already going to be a part of the program, turning down the money would only shut Pine Plains out of the process.

“It’s better to participate because then we have input,� said Trustee Helene McQuade. “If we don’t, then we have to live with the consequences of what other districts decide.�

Kaumeyer said that if the district opted out it might end up costing more money in the long run.

“There will come regulations from the state of New York out of all this that we will be required to follow,� she said after the meeting. “I think the board’s decision was that Pine Plains should be proactive rather than reactive.�

Schoonmaker said that it was an easy choice for the state to want in on the program, seeing that the biggest districts are set to receive “a tremendous amount� of money.

“From their standpoint, politically and from the State Education Department, this made perfect sense,� he said. “And then to heck with the rest of us, so to speak.�

Schoonmaker expressed concerns that the mandates would almost certainly cost Webutuck as much as twice what it will be receiving in funds to fully implement the various mandates and that it was “to a great extent yet another unfunded, or certainly severely underfunded, state mandate.�

Kaumeyer said that the lengthy grant application has been filed and copies sent to Dutchess County BOCES as well.

“When we talked about this at the last board meeting, I think some of the board members asked some critical questions, but I think that we care very much about preparing students for life after high school,� she said. “It’s very important that we stay tuned in to what the education policy leaders are telling us.�

Schoonmaker acknowledged that there will be some upsides to Race to the Top, including much needed clarification of core curriculum and standards. And the new teacher and principal evaluation standards could give districts more ability to deal with the evaluation of tenured personnel.

“At this point removing or dealing with tenured personnel who are performing below expectations or standards is at best onerous and at worst impossible,� Schoonmaker said. “There is an opportunity that this will either minorly [sic] or dramatically change that.�

However, he quickly added, the district is required to bargain in good faith with the teachers’ union by 2013. What isn’t stipulated is what happens if an agreement can’t be reached with the union. The Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law was passed by New York State Legislature in 1982, which says that a teacher’s contract be honored in its entirety until a new collective bargaining agreement can be reached.

“We’ll be given about $6,000 to train staff for teacher and principal evaluations,� Schoonmaker said. “But what happens if you can’t use those evaluations because of contract stipulations? Nobody seems to know.�