Opinion

Risky ‘success’ for NY schools

Yestereday’s announcement by the Obama administration that New York state is among the 16 finalists for a federal Race to the Top award is a mixed bag, at best.

True, Washington is quite properly recognizing New York for the leadership of the state Board of Regents and education commissioner, David Steiner, for adopting reforms in such key areas as teacher preparation and student assessment.

Though he only took office in October, Steiner pushed these sweeping measures through — working with the Regents to do all they could.

The state Legislature was another matter. It failed to enact any reforms to maximize New York’s chances for a Race to the Top award — including several changes recommended by the Regents that required legislative action.

These needed reforms range from raising the cap on the number of charter schools statewide, to ending the “firewall” that prevents the use of student test scores in tenure decisions, to streamlining the disciplinary process that now has teachers spending months and years in do-nothing “rubber rooms.”

Because the Legislature didn’t act, New York remains at a disadvantage for a maximum federal Race to the Top grant during this Round 1 competition — despite being named a “finalist.”

Why did the Legislature fail to act? Simply put, the teacher unions applied tremendous pressure to block any genuine education reform — even with New York facing record state budget deficits and looming education funding cuts.

With New York named a Race to the Top finalist, will education-reform opponents now get the federal cash — and the last laugh — anyway?

We’ll soon find out. For one thing, being a finalist doesn’t get the state any new money — yet. Round 1 awards will be announced in mid-April with the 16 finalists likely to be narrowed by as few as half.

Including New York as a “finalist” despite the Legislature’s inaction may suggest that the Race to the Top selection criteria are malleable. It also raises questions as to whether the US Department of Education’s hard deadline for further legislative changes applies. (Recently, for example, sources in the department indicated that states could still make legislative improvements while their applications were under review.)

New York is at risk of the worst of outcomes — being awarded a minor grant in Round 1, making it ineligible to resubmit a stronger application for a maximum grant in Round 2.

The state should take no chances. The Legislature should press ahead and enact reforms to maximize its grant opportunity for the full $700 million — now. Even if we end up with nothing next month, enacting reforms would place New York in a stronger competitive position for Round 2 in June.

The worst outcome for New York students and their hope for public-education reform would be for the Obama administration to relax its vigilance by rewarding states for going merely halfway toward adopting the comprehensive changes demanded by its Race to the Top program.

Peter Murphy is policy director of the NY Charter Schools Association and writes for its Weblog, The Chalkboard.