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The prospect of millions more in federal education dollars looks attractive as Indiana struggles through the downturn. But Hoosiers should be aware that a share of the $4 billion in Race to the Top funds could bring more than a stream of money – it could bring far-reaching policy changes as well.
The best evidence is the Republican state school chief’s selective interest in the Obama administration’s education goals. State Superintendent Tony Bennett has taken great pains to suggest his efforts align with the federal Department of Education’s goals.
“Our reform efforts already under way closely mirror the pillars of Race to the Top because they have been crafted with the goals of increasing accountability, freedom and competition in our schools to increase students’ academic achievement,” Bennett said in a news release this month. “Securing funding for our state will only increase the scope and speed of change for Hoosier students.”
“Freedom and competition,” of course, are code for “vouchers.” The Indiana General Assembly, in spite of a crippling budget shortfall, approved the equivalent of a voucher program this year that will direct dollars away from public schools to independent and parochial schools.
As for accountability, Bennett told educators at a recent conference at the University of Indianapolis that the state must “keep score” and that he won’t hesitate to use the state’s authority to seize control from local school systems and to make its own decisions about which teachers stay or go, according to a report from WIBC Radio.
The final Race to the Top criteria, however, specified that student test scores should be just one component of a teacher- or principal-evaluation system. The regulations require multiple measures, including improvement in student test scores.
Most telling is how the Indiana schools chief neglects major provisions of the federal initiative. There’s no mention, for example, of how Indiana will address early childhood education, a key priority in the Race to the Top criteria.
“The secretary is particularly interested in applications that include practices, strategies or programs to improve educational outcomes for high-need students who are young children (pre-kindergarten through third grade) by enhancing the quality of preschool programs,” according to the application guidelines.
Indiana not only has failed to address the quality of preschool programs; it has also failed to even offer preschool programs. The public pre-K programs available in Indiana are paid for with federal Head Start dollars or by Title I dollars, allocated by local school districts to target at-risk students. For their part, Bennett and other Indiana policymakers haven’t even delivered on promises to pay for full-day kindergarten, resigning Indiana to the cellar of early-childhood-education opportunity.
Indiana is not the only state overstating its case for education reform. Ironically, one voice of caution comes from the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
“I’m hugely concerned about unintended consequences,” said Frederick Hess, the organization’s education director. “States are rushing to stitch together grant proposals that will win points, but many could just turn out to be short-term political plays.”
Threats of education funding cuts in Indiana only add to the misplaced urgency. Hoosiers should look critically at the scramble to enact changes that look more like a political agenda than a sincere effort to improve schools.
