Research

Last week the Department of Education announced the two winners of the first round of their Race To The Top grants, Delaware and Tennessee. The grants were supposed to be for funding far-reaching, innovative reforms, so these choices were somewhat surprising given the moderate quality of their proposals. Some Democrat governors are so furious at the arbitrary nature of the Obama Administration that they might not apply for the second round of grants.

Colorado, which had hoped to win $377 million, ended in 14th place. Now Mr. Ritter says the scoring by anonymous judges seemed inscrutable, some Coloradans view the contest as federal intrusion and the governor has not decided whether to reapply for the second round. “It was like the Olympic Games, and we were an American skater with a Soviet judge from the 1980s,” Mr. Ritter said.

Apparently the secret to the success of Delaware and Tennessee was the support of local teachers unions. According to the Washington Post, the level of union buy-in was a key criterion.

The announcement that Delaware had won about $100 million highlighted that all of the state's teachers unions backed the plan for tougher teacher evaluations linked to student achievement. In second-place Tennessee, which won about $500 million, 93 percent of unions were on board. By contrast, applications from Florida and Louisiana were considered innovative but fell short in part because they had less union support. The District's bid, rated last among 16 finalists, was opposed by the local union.

Education expert Frederick Hess is quoted saying that such an emphasis on placating the unions will put them in the driver’s seat:  “I’m worried that it gives a fundamental veto, or at least a lot of influence, to the least reform-minded participants.”