Since Ohio won Race to the Top money last week, districts that didn't sign on to the state's proposal (nearly half of them) have gone on the defensive about why they didn't accept the federal dollars.?? And that's no easy task with the governor assuring the public that RttT won't mean new, additional reforms but will merely fund his education plan that was put in place more than a year ago, and with teachers unions and winning superintendents echoing him.
The superintendent of Oak Hill Union Local Schools, a small district near my hometown in southern Ohio, told the local newspaper about his district's decision to decline RttT:
I am reminded of the Bible story of Esau where he gave up his birthright for a bowl of porridge. To be honest, I am unwilling to relinquish some of our local control over temporary dollars that may have a hundred pages of strings attached.
Local control is a BIG deal in the Buckeye State.?? But is relinquishing it an act of Biblical proportion??? Especially for a district like Oak Hill and the many, many others for which the local control argument is one based on historical legacy, not operational reality??? Even before the influx of federal stimulus money last year (and Edujobs this year), Oak Hill received 70 percent of its revenue from the state and another 10 percent from the federal government.?? And Ohio's education laws, policies, and operating standards for public schools dictate much of what schools do and how they do it.
Declining a bit more federal cash via Race to the Top, to do what is already going to be required of you, seems foolish ??? and makes the superintendents, local teachers unions, and school boards involved look far more like Esau's father Isaac than anybody else in the Bible. (Isaac was duped into giving away Race to the Top money ??? I mean Esau's birthright ??? to his brother Jacob in a scandalous little plot involving goat hair and an old man's bad eyesight.)
HT to Jamie for her knowledge of Biblical characters!
- Emmy Partin
