Comments on: State Policymakers Seek More Money for Charter Schools

By: Pete Silva

Pete Silva — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:27:49 +0000

The bottom line is to fund all schools fairly. Charter schools may be one solution to a problem for one set of kids but with the current state of the CT budget, there is only so much money to go around. Taking money suddenly from districts who are doing a good job with their student population is unfair although typical of what happens to after so called pilot programs run out of funding from the original source.

By: UnionMade

UnionMade — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:14:11 +0000

Race to the Top? Why the race? Seems to me that the feds would have been wiser to come up with a plan that would encourage a thoughful process for meaningful ways to fund education. I thought that the Obama administration would have had more sense. The more things change the more they stay the same–haste still makes waste…

By: Laurel Killough

Laurel Killough — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:38:36 +0000

@ Michael: Race to the Top has been a very fast moving process. We have been doing our best with such short notice to keep members up-to-date on RTTT in Connecticut.

We were able to arrange for Commissioner McQuillan to meet with local leaders in December to explain the application process. I hope you have a chance to check out what he said as we posted complete video of the presentation to the blog: http://blogcea.org/2009/12/22/state-ed-commissioner-rttt/

The bottom line is that deciding whether to sign on to the local RTTT grant is a decision that each local teachers’ association has to make for itself. Participating in RTTT is a complex process that requires thorough discussion and comprehensive information in each town and city.

At the state level, CEA has been involved in the state’s RTTT application process with CEA leaders serving on the SDE’s External Partners Advisory Committee that has met since late summer. We view the grant application process as an opportunity that has to be evaluated locally as well as from a statewide perspective.

FYI – We’ve also posted video from the January 11 SDE news conference on RTTT to the blog: http://blogcea.org/2010/01/11/rttt-in-high-gear/

By: lifesgood83

lifesgood83 — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:10:33 +0000

Money should be directed to public schools, not charter schools. The expense of charter schools originally started with funding through the state. As the state experiences losses, they are now decreasing the funding. Towns cannot afford to finance local and charter schools as well. If it is a state mandate, then the state should fund all mandates. (special ed and all state programs!)

By: michael st. grey

michael st. grey — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:03:55 +0000

January 19th?! If you take “Race To the Top” literally, well, the starting gun has already been fired. Meanwhile, what does the membership know about the specifics of the state’s proposal, eg, “the memo of understanding”? Either someone’s been asleep at the switch or there’s been a massive failure to communicate.

One question: has anyone considered the public relations downside to a CEA rejection of the proposal? I would think some clever negotiation might be able to frame RTTT’s abundant negatives. Of course, you’ve only ten days (including weekends) to get a palatable counter-proposal together…