GOP Education Questionnaire #2

Maine’s chances in the Federal Race to the Top has been discussed on this site several times.  For the next question in the Augusta Insider/Dirigo Blue education series we have asked the candidates their opinion on Maine’s efforts in the Race.  Please read the Republican candidate’s views after the jump.

Today’s Question: What is your opinion of the Federal Race to the Top, and is it worth it? Given what we know about the two 1st round winners (Delaware and Tennessee), do you believe Maine has made a strong effort to win the Race?

Peter Mills:
Maine has made a poor effort to participate because the teachers union (the MEA) is overtly hostile.  They have successfully opposed charter schools in Maine, leaving us as only 1 of 11 states that don’t authorize them.  The MEA opposes the use of student achievement as any measure of teacher evaluation.  Local unions have refused to endorse Maine’s application for Race to the Top funds.  Given this level of resistance, it is unlikely that Maine will be awarded any competitive grants.
Details:
http://www.millsformaine.com/2010/04/teacher-evaluation
http://www.millsformaine.com/2009/11/charter-schools-maine

Steve Abbott:
There is a great opportunity with the federal “Race to the Top” program and Maine needs to be at the table. We need strong leadership in this arena from the Governor and Commissioner of Education.

Maine’s recent application for Race to the Top funding was sorely lacking in substantive reforms, and compared with other states’ applications, was not even competitive.  This needs to change and that begins with leadership from the Governor’s office.

Matt Jacobson:
The “Race to the Top” is an incentive program.  We criticize “unfunded mandates,” when Washington tells you do to something but doesn’t pay for it.  This is the opposite, where states receive money if they make some upgrades Washington recommends.  Unfortunately, Maine is not fully competing because the teachers’ unions are not interested in a performance-based pay system or even experimenting with Charter Schools.   My position is that when 25% of our kids drop out of high school, we need to do something very different.  Charter Schools, paying the best teachers more when students’ scores improve, or other methods of keeping more kids stay in school make perfect sense.  We need new ideas because we’re cheating our kids and ourselves when so many leave Maine’s K-12 system.   If “Race To The Top” funds are available and will help us improve our kids’ education – let’s do it.

Bruce Poliquin:

The larger goal of improving our educational system has been lost in the discussion over “Race to the Top”.  We should start with the premise that we’re going to reform our educational system because it will offer students a better educational experience, not necessarily because it allows us to apply for pockets of federal funding.  Frankly, if Maine were better managed, spent less, reduced taxes, and reformed our anti-business climate, we’d have a thriving private sector that provided the funds we need to put into the classroom – and we wouldn’t need to scramble for federal funding.  I support making changes to apply for “Race to the Top”, but that won’t solve our much longer-term funding problems.

Paul LePage:
A major reason for seeking to become Governor is I do not believe the current administration has done enough for our children, the elderly, the homeless and the mentally ill in Maine.  In reality, I am very suspect of many programs coming out of Washington these days.  After all, “No Child Left Behind” left many of our children to drop out of schools. I believe we graduate less than 75% of high school students; we can and must do better.

Les Otten:
Under the Race to the Top program, $4.3 billion is being made available to states to help them fund promising education reforms.
The catch is that this is a competitive grant program.  States across the nation have responded by passing comprehensive reform legislation that moves their states forward in a dramatic fashion.
MICHIGAN:
•    Expanded the number charter schools in the state.
•    Empowered the state to intervene in the lowest performing schools.
•    Tightened certification requirements for school administrators.
•    Required annual evaluations of teachers and administrators using data on student growth.
•    Created alternative routes to teacher certification and raised the state’s dropout age.

MASSACHUSETTS:
•    Expanded the number of charter schools in Massachusetts.
•    Gave the state broad powers to intervene in chronically failing schools, including empowering district superintendents to unilaterally amend elements of the collective bargaining agreements in such schools in order to make the staffing changes needed to turn them around.

MAINE:
Maine could be in the running for as much as $75 million from this grant program, we’ve known about it for a year, and we’ve done nothing.
Maine is one of only 11 states without charter schools.  The so-called “innovative schools” proposed this session by the Legislature barely meet the criteria defined by the Race to the Top application.  They are not autonomous (as they are run exclusively by existing school districts) and have no statutory authority over their own budgets.
Maine is doing nothing to create alternate routes to teacher certification.
Maine is doing nothing to see to it that highly effective teachers and principals are given opportunities for additional compensation.
Maine is doing nothing to improve the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs.
Maine is doing nothing to intervene in chronically underperforming schools.
Maine is doing nothing to provide high quality professional development to our teachers and school administrators.
Maine is doing nothing to develop a systemic approach to education reform generally.
The Race to the Top grant gives Maine the opportunity to:
•    Rework our data and information systems.
•    Re-imagine how we attract, train, certify, support and compensate our teachers and school administrators.
•    Take aggressive actions to intervene in chronically underperforming schools.
•    Give our school and community leaders the flexibility they need to make their schools better.
•    To provide students and families with more educational options, including charter schools.

Maine can be a leader in education reform and make Maine’s schools the best in the nation.  We can, and must, compete for these funds.*

Bill Beardsley:
From my limited knowledge, Maine is very unlikely to present a proposal that will benefit Maine youth if a grant is received.  I would support a Maine application for federal “Race to the Top” funding if the application proposed truly “bold” innovative steps such as a replacement of tenure with multiyear contracts, merit pay and promotions based on performance, and waivers from non-essential red tape.  It is my understanding the national NEA Collective Bargaining affiliate, the MEA, is recommending opposition to applications that propose such steps and that the feds suggest union support could be critical.  Second, there is an obligation that Maine adopt National Common Core standards that set “high and consistent expectations”.  This implies a strong additional shift away from local and even state control towards a federal education system.  Third, with limited state resources, I am concerned that the focus on Race to the Top is on high schools and graduation rates and those going to college, which could draw resources and focus away from what I believe is Maine’s greatest need, namely additional strategic support for pre-K through Grade l “at risk” children, where one gets the greatest return on investment.

Finally, the dramatic turnaround at Searsport High School exemplifies that given support, creativity and collaboration from within the community, strong leadership by an effective principal, a bottom up rather than a top down strategy for excellence is possible without “Race to the Top” funds and strings attached.  In the cases of Deer-Isle/Stonington and Sumner High Schools, strong leadership and change was already leading to improvement, which raises the question of how all the “so-called” failed schools are being measured in the first place.

*Update from the Otten Campaign:  The Otten campaign has released a statement saying they should have attributed their response to this question to Stephen Bowen of the Maine Heritage Policy Center.  They call the issue an “error of omission not an error of commission”.  Do you agree readers?

In one of our responses to the Augusta Insider’s recent questions regarding education, specifically the Race To The Top program, part of the answer came from public testimony from the Maine Heritage Policy Center on LD 1801.  We should have attributed this quote directly to Steve Bowen of the Maine Heritage Policy Center.

The correct citation should be listed as coming from testimony regarding L.D.’s 1799, 1800 and 1801, The Maine Heritage Policy Center.

Les and members of the Otten campaign staff previously met with the Maine Heritage Policy Center and Steve Bowen, who pointed us toward this public testimony. We have spoken to the Maine Heritage Policy Center executive director Tarren Bragdon who appreciates the fact that we have gone back and attributed that quote to their organization.  We apologize for the inadvertent oversight as the final draft of our response was being prepared.  This is an error of omission not an error of commission.

We will continue to seek out the best minds in the state such as the Maine Heritage Policy Center on the issues that face us.