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Monday, June 7, 2010

Agreements Under Scrutiny, Again, in Race to Top - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Agreements Under Scrutiny, Again, in Race to Top - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Agreements Under Scrutiny, Again, in Race to Top

Michele "High Bar" McNeil has been doggedly following the latest Race to the Top news, this debate over "side deals" in some Florida districts. The big question is whether these side agreements essentially compromise the "buy in" of local district and unions who signed the state memorandum of understanding.
More from Eduwonk here, and Sherman Dorn at his blog thinks we're all off in left field.
Dorn makes some important points, explaining that some of the apparent redundancy in these local "side agreements" has to do with the fact that the scope of bargaining in Florida differs from that in other states, like New York. But other than that, he thinks this is a process issue and that the agreements don't substantively differ from the state MOU.
By my read, though, these local agreements do, in fact, change the contours of the local support. The state MOU, for instance, assumes that locals will negotiate all terms of the state reform plan into their bargaining agreements, or forfeit their share of the grants. When the grant expires or funding runs out, all that happe