New Jersey one of two states not applying for first round of federal education money

Thursday, December 3, 2009
BY LESLIE BRODY
The Record
STAFF WRITER

New Jersey is one of the few states skipping the January round of competition for $4.35 billion in stimulus funds for fixing America's schools, a new survey shows.

Only two out of 41 states that said they wanted "Race to the Top" grants are waiting until the second round of applications in June, according to the Center on Education Policy in Washington. Four states said they hadn't decided and five states did not respond to the survey released today.

In New Jersey, the Education Department and Governor-elect Chris Christie's transition team said this week that the state would wait until June to compete for its potential grant of $200 million to $400 million. Alarmed education advocates warned that such a delay could hurt New Jersey's chances of getting money it desperately needs.

The Obama administration calls the initiative the nation's "moon shot" for school reform and says winners must show bold blueprints for boosting student achievement. The first round deadline is Jan. 19 — Christie's inauguration.

 
Jack Jennings, president of the independent, non-profit Center on Education Policy, said Wednesday that it was risky to sit on the sidelines. "I wouldn't wait," he said. "If you have 39 states going at it first and only two holding back, it's possible most of the money would be gone."

The applications are enormously complex and require extensive buy-in from state officials, district chiefs and unions. Some critics have balked at the policy strings attached, but state leaders said in the survey that due to dire financial straits, they needed every penny.

The survey polled governors and state education heads in late August through October. The center promised confidentiality to encourage honest, apolitical opinions.
At least one state changed its plans for Race to the Top since the survey was taken.

When New Jersey answered the survey, it planned to compete in January, "assuming we were finished with the application," said Education Department spokeswoman Kathryn Forsyth. She said officials were working with a draft of the competition's rules in the early fall, and final rules came out in mid-November, after the elections.

Education Commissioner Lucille Davy has said she did not want to forge ahead with a proposal because the new governor might not agree to her team's vision. Further, Forsyth said Davy believed the transition team wanted her to focus on a separate $350 million stimulus grant application.

Christie's transition spokeswoman Maria Comella, however, said the incoming governor wanted New Jersey to compete for Race to the Top in January but the Department of Education wasn't ready. "Considering so many other states across the country are prepared to meet the January deadline, we are extremely disappointed and frustrated that the Corzine administration was completely unprepared," Comella said.

Virginia, the only other state getting a new governor in January, is applying for the grant now. Some advocates point out that the first round of awards will be announced in April, so the money can be counted on in planning for the coming school year. The second-round awards will be announced in September.
Race to the Top is controversial because it promotes such potentially divisive steps as expanding charter schools, providing merit pay for teachers and using students' test scores to evaluate faculty. Even so, many states expect their financial condition to worsen, so they hope to massage the grant's requirements to their liking.

"We could use the funding," said David G. Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, a Newark-based advocacy group. "But if we apply, New Jersey has to build consensus on how to improve programs, raise teaching quality and reform under-performing schools. Many states are doing a poor job of bringing key stakeholders together."
"We are certainly concerned about making sure New Jersey gets its share of the money," said Steve Wollmer, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association. "There is some work that needs to be done to make sure everyone in New Jersey is comfortable with what it takes to submit an application. If the current administration can work that out with the new administration in time for Jan. 19, they should probably do that."

Shelley Skinner, a trustee for the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association, said the timing of the application was not as critical as its success. "We're not so much focused on the when as we are on getting to the finish line," she said. "It's an amazing opportunity for all kids in New Jersey and an amazing opportunity to grow quality charter schools. … We're very eager to see it happen."
E-mail: brody@northjersey.com