Miami Herald Letter: Florida is serious about winning Race to the Top
Feb 11, 2010
The Miami Herald published this letter on February 10, 2010.
Re the Feb. 5 letter State attached too many strings, about Florida’s efforts to win the federal Race to the Top competition: Race to the Top is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for states and school districts to build on past successes and dramatically improve the quality of education that they provide to their students. Victory in this competition will result in more assistance for our struggling schools, support and training for our teachers, world-class academic standards and assessments and a data system that will put the tools of success into everyone’s hands.
In order to participate in the competition, districts were asked to sign and submit a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU is an agreement that the school board, superintendent and union will work in good faith to develop a locally tailored plan designed to support the district’s teachers and students. That is all that is binding — a promise to work together on a plan.
The parties would be working to develop a plan to implement each of the specific initiatives listed. If the district ultimately is unable to submit a plan that addresses each of the initiatives, there is no penalty to the district.
Simply put, there is no binding requirement to submit a plan, only one to work in good faith in an attempt to do so.
It was the choice of each school district to submit an MOU, and I am pleased that almost 90 percent of the state’s districts chose to participate. This level of participation is a clear signal that Florida is serious about this competition and about improving the education of its students.
It’s important that every child in Florida benefits from our Race to the Top. I look forward to working with each of our school districts to make that happen.
ERIC J. SMITH, Florida commissioner of education, Tallahassee