There’s good news and there’s bad news on the education front. Let’s start with the bad news.
The Bad News
Matthew Stone reported yesterday that House Democrats were considering taking $500 million from the Race to the Top fund, $200 million from the Teacher Incentive Fund, and $100 million “meant to inspire education”. Part of the money from the last item was meant to fund charter schools. The $800 million would be used to fund the education jobs bill. The American Teachers Federation supported the change, but said they preferred the previous version, which did not feature these cuts. The US Department of Education did not approve of the cuts. In a statement to Eduwonk, the DOE stated they felt the programs being cut were essential to education reform. “If Congress is determined to find offsets, we will help them do that, but these are not the right ones,” said DOE spokesmen Peter Cunningham.
Moderate Congressional Democrats have begun lining up in opposition to the funding shift. In the House, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) is asking his colleagues to sign a letter directed at the architect of the cuts, Rep. David Obey (D-WI). “While Chairman Obey’s efforts to provide critical funding for cash-strapped public schools across the nation through a $10 billion Education Jobs Fund are commendable,” said Polis, “it is very troubling that these three innovative programs were chosen to bear the brunt as offsets. This proposal undermines the President’s effort to reshape and reinvent our nation’s schools, by incentivizing educational innovation, building on what works, and rewarding results…”
President Obama cautioned against the cuts today. After issuing a statement asking Congress not to take funding from the various reform initiatives, the White House issued another statement with a bit stronger tone.
From Eduwonk:
“The Administration is more than willing to work with the Congress to pursue fiscally responsible ways to finance education jobs; however, these rescissions undercut programs that have already received applications from more than three dozen States. It would be short-sighted to weaken funding for these reforms just as they begin to show such promise.
“The Administration urges the House to include education jobs funding in a version of H.R. 4899 that does not rescind education reform funding. If the final bill presented to the President includes cuts to education reforms, the President’s senior advisors would recommend a veto.” (emphasis mine)
Education reformer Diane Ravitch has come out in favor of Obey’s amendment. Ravitch stated that reform cannot happen without teachers in the classroom. Without Obey’s amendment “thousands of teachers get laid off, class sizes soar, resources shrivel,” said Ravitch. Ravitch said she preferred the reallocation of funding to “Edudeformers” protecting charter schools and merit pay in the current environment.
The Good News
There is education money coming to Maine through other channels however. $52,222,609 will be available to Maine through the Recovery Act. Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree praised the influx of funding. “This investment will help school districts throughout our state continue to provide a high quality education to our students,” said Michaud. “Without this investment, school districts across Maine would face substantial cuts.” Pingree said in a statement that, “Despite ever tightening budgets and a lack of resources, Maine schools are working very hard so their students can continue to succeed. They simply can’t do that work without teachers in the classroom. These funds are a good step to keeping those critical positions, but our communities still need more help.”
Maine became eligible for funding after showing low-performing schools were implementing plans to improve, and by showing improved data collection on teacher, principal, and curriculum evaluations. Please read Stephen Bowen’s critique of Maine’s Race to the Top application for more information on some of these issues.
The Recovery Act education funding could not have come at a better time. Stephan Burklin reports that a $100 million hole in Maine’s budget left by a lack of federal funding could be offset by cuts to education. Governor Baldacci may restore cuts to education to offset needs to now further fund Medicaid and TANF. Baldacci has issued an order alerting the state that budget curtailments may come.
All of this up and down news can be disheartening. A solid educational system is Maine’s ticket to economic prosperity. Most of all, a quality education is a child’s path to freedom. It is easy to get caught up on the dollar signs. There is a prevalent feeling that more money must equal a better education. That is only partly true. Learning is about so much more than that. It happens in and out of a classroom. Learning is a life-long pursuit. We must remember that. These hard times may lead to the most innovative developments in education we have ever seen. That is a lesson we should all keep in mind.
UPDATE: The House approved the amendment late last night. Reps. Michaud and Pingree both voted in favor of the measure.
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