A panel appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist started Wednesday morning to refurbish the state's bid for a chunk of the federal Race to the Top grant, which could bring the state $700 million in funding for education.
Florida came in fourth in the first round of competition for a piece of the $4.35 billion grant that the Obama administration is doling out to states who can create a bold change in education. Florida was widely expected to win in the first round, but only Delaware and Tennessee were awarded money.
Florida has until June 1 to revamp its application and try again.
But the panel has people who are far from agreement on some issues. The state teachers' union was in fervent opposition to the first application, while other members of the panel heralded the state's first attempt at the money, which focused on merit pay for teachers and core standards for schools.
There are differences, said Education Commissioner Eric Smith. So I think that when we get down into specifics is going to be the key.
The 12-member working group is set to work all day Wednesday and by the end produce a new Memorandum of Understanding, the document that outlines the state's plan for the grant money should it win. The MOU would then go out to all the districts for approval or rejection by superintendents, school boards and local unions.
In the first round, 60 districts signed off on the MOU, but only five local unions.
Andy Ford, the president of the Florida Education Association, the states largest teachers union, said that the new plan needs to show the state can reach every student, particularly those in historically troubled schools. The application also has to acknowledge a plan for the state to maintain the changes achieved under the grant money, which was a major concern of the union in the first round.
Whatever we come up with needs to be sustained because the grant runs out and then what do we do? Ford said.
A portion of the first application remains possibly the group's biggest hurdle going forward. The first application focused heavily on the issue of merit pay for teachers, which later appeared in legislation, SB 6.
The legislation, Smith said a few weeks ago, was the linchpin in the state's new application. But it was vetoed by Crist, throwing the department's application into a bit of a tailspin. Smith had expected Crist to sign the legislation.
Delaware and Tennessee both have statutes to help them implement their plans, something that the U.S. Department of Education praised them for. With Crist having vetoed the merit pay bill, Florida doesnt have a way to implement that part of the plan.
The other concern voiced by U.S. Department of Education reviewers was the lack of collaboration with all the education groups in the state, particularly the union.
It puts more importance on this meeting today because one of the questions the reviewers had was not having good consensus, Smith said.
Several states have announced they won't compete in the second round, which should help Florida's chances. But U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that a state's high ranking in the first round doesn't make it an immediate contender for the second round grant.
I don't think we can rest on our laurels because obviously we didn't win, said Florida PTA President Karin Brown, a member of the working group.
