Julie Lauck says she’s a little worried about a pledge made last week by Tony Bennett, the state’s top education official.
In announcing the fact that the state was no longer in the running for a share of $4 billion in federal stimulus money set aside for the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program, Bennett promised to move forward with plans to reform Indiana schools.
“The scary part is, the superintendent says we’re moving in that direction, but we don’t have the funding, so I’m a little nervous about that,” said Lauck, the superintendent of Logansport Community Schools.
That’s certainly understandable.
We can all get behind the idea of better performing schools. Who doesn’t want the best possible education for our state’s children?
But making the needed changes clearly won’t be easy in an environment of declining revenues. At the same time they work to improve student performance, public schools across the state are being forced to trim millions of dollars from their budgets.
The state’s Race to the Top plan calls for new initiatives to attract teachers. It calls for tying the evaluations of teachers and principals to the performance of their students.
It calls for less focus on testing and more focus on the progress of individual students. And it calls for the state to step in and take over schools that repeatedly fall short of performance goals.
We applaud Bennett for his determination to push forward with his reform agenda with or without federal support. The reforms are clearly needed, and Indiana’s students deserve our best efforts.
Still, state education officials acknowledge that reaching their objectives will take more time without the federal support.
It’s worth noting that federal officials are planning a second round of funding applications this fall, and we would certainly encourage Bennett and his staff to try again.
We would also encourage the department to invite other organizations, such as the Indiana State Teachers Association and parent groups, to the table. The more organizations involved in putting together the application, the greater support the resulting plan will have across the state.
And with or without federal funding, the reform effort will need broad support if it is to achieve any significant level of success.
