Determined not to leave up to $400 million in federal funds on the table, state lawmakers appear determined this week to resolve differences in House and Senate bills that mandate significant changes in public schools.
To qualify for the Race to the Top federal stimulus money, Michigan would have to make changes to allow merit pay for teachers, lessen restrictions on opening charter schools, plan for sanctions for underperforming schools and make it easier for people to become teachers. Teachers unions and local school officials have fought the ideas in the past.
Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, said state and federal initiatives will produce "a sea change" in the way troubled schools operate and kids learn. "It's a huge deal," he said.
And it's a lot of money for a state with big money problems. The Democrat-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate have approved different versions of legislation that must be resolved before Gov. Jennifer Granholm can sign it.
Michigan's Race to the Top application is due Jan. 19, with the first round of funding to be announced in April.
School grants spur state lawmakers to action
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative "education reform's moon shot," the largest pot of discretionary school funding -- $4 billion or so -- in the nation's history.
But the scramble set off to qualify for the federal government'scompetitive grants has been very much Earth-bound.
In Michigan and other states, legislators and education officials have engaged in a frenzy of deal-making to win Race to the Top funding.
Whether the end result is real classroom change -- especially in the chronically troubled schools that are the main target for reform -- won't be known for years.