The Obama Administration is encouraging state-level education reforms with the inclusion of $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” incentive built into the federal stimulus.

• Race to the Top is a federal grant that ties teacher and principal salaries to student test scores, adopts internationally benchmarked academic standards, improves lowest-performing schools, creates systems to track students long-term, and allows for the inclusion of more charter schools.
• Although considered small by Washington standards, the grant is propelling state legislators to make changes so that their states are eligible for the funding.
• In October, Governor Schwarzenegger (of California) signed a bill that links teacher pay to student test performance, after calling a special legislative session in August.

Facts & Figures

• The United States educates an estimated 50 million students every year.
• If distributed to each and every student, Race to the Top would provide an addtional $87 per year.
• Grant distribution begins in January 2010.

Best Quote

“They don’t want to be on the losing side of this. Everybody wants to be the education governor, but nobody has asked them to prove it in the past several years. This year the onus is back on them.” – Charles Barone, Democrats for Education Reform

Tags: Education, federal stimulus, public education, reform