Union opposition dogs Florida application for education Race to the Top funds

TALLAHASSEE - Florida’s application for a $1.1 billion share of federal education reform funding could be hampered by a lack of support from teachers’ unions as federal officials begin reviewing submissions from states across the country.

But the concerns aren’t confined solely to unions. Some elected officials and grass-roots groups are concerned that the program would give state and federal officials too much control over schools.

Both groups - and their concerns - raise questions about how the changes might reshape Florida’s education system. And the opposition itself could have its own impact on how effective the reforms will be.

The application for the “Race to the Top” funding, which was included in last year’s economic stimulus bill, includes the signatures from the presidents of just five local unions, including Duval County’s - something that could hold down the state’s score in the competitive process divvying up the nearly $4.4 billion in funding.

Florida’s application has a total budget of $1.1 billion, though most estimate the state’s share would probably be just more than $700 million if the application is approved. Winners for the first round will be announced in April; winners of a second round of grants, with applications due June 1, are scheduled to be named in September.

But the Florida Education Association, which has encouraged local unions not to sign on, said the blame for any resistance by teachers’ organizations lies with the state Department of Education.

Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the Education Association, said the state didn’t work closely enough with unions in developing the application, something the federal government envisioned as a part of Race to the Top.

At a presentation to lawmakers last month, Education Commissioner Eric Smith said union support would be important both to getting the grant and to putting it in place.

“If we can get districts with all three signatures - superintendent, board president and union president on board - it will add points to the Florida application and perhaps more importantly will be more illustrative to the federal government about our capacity to deliver on bold initiatives that require collective bargaining as part of that,” Smith said.

Education Association President Andy Ford took out a full-page ad in the Tallahassee Democrat in mid-December calling the Department of Education’s plans “fatally flawed.” Ford ripped the proposal as a “top-down” approach to education reform instead of a system that would allow local innovation.

House Minority Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, said the Department of Education could have made more progress with critics by ensuring that school districts could choose certain parts of the plan and in which schools to use them; by adding a provision to “sunset” anything that isn’t funded; and with other changes, including tying some implementation to collective bargaining.

“These changes would have gone a long way toward easing significant concerns about the application,” said Sands, who also said he hopes the grant is approved despite eight districts not signing on.

Unions are not the only ones who worry about the potential influence of Washington and Tallahassee under the new approach.

Elected officials in some of the counties who opted out have cited concerns about centralizing control, and a commentary posted on the Web site of the Florida Tenth Amendment Center - which supports stringent limits on federal power - ripped the idea of the grant.

“If what we know of Race to the Top curriculums is implemented, the states for all their bluster about their right to be free of intrusive and unlawful federal law will have in fact handed over to supporters of an all-encompassing federal and global government their most precious resource, their children,” the commentary said.

But Republican supporters of the grant say half the funding will go directly to school districts and that the changes are already in line with what Florida has been trying to achieve in education for years.

“I think the Race to the Top really represents what most mainstream people are talking about in terms of education reform,” said Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, a member of the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee.

Tom Butler, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Education, said the agency still feels good about its proposal. He said unions will still have an opportunity to take part in the process, if the state gets the grants, when local school districts craft their plans later this year.

“Ultimately, if we’re successful … local unions and the teachers are going to be a part of this,” he said.

Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville, said union support is critical. Jones said she remains optimistic that the unions and the department can come to an agreement later, though that would likely require the education agency to be more flexible than it was in the run-up to the application.

“The teachers are our front line, and they will make or break our success with what we’re trying to do,” said Jones, a member of the House Education Policy Council.