"Although many school districts in Massachusetts have rushed to take part in a federal program that offers new funds in exchange for cooperation on educational reforms, a number of others will have to sit on the sidelines because their teacher unions opted out."
The unions say participation in the program, Race to the Top, would have unfairly tied their jobs to student test scores.
School districts in Brockton, Marshfield, Plymouth, Randolph, and several other communities south of Boston are among the 256 statewide that can look forward to the prospect of funding for new educational services next year. With the federal program structured to give more money to school systems serving greater numbers of lower-income households, Brockton is eligible for an estimated $2.6 million, Plymouth for $440,000, Randolph for $315,000, and Marshfield for $182,000.
But school systems in Braintree, Dedham, Quincy, and Weymouth, among others, are excluded from the funds because they failed to gain union leaders’ signatures on their applications.
“I’m disappointed,’’ said Anne Mahoney, vice chairwoman of the Quincy School Committee and a parent of children in the Quincy schools. “Any opportunity we have to have funds coming in, we should take a good look at it.’’