In early December, the Ohio Education Association (OEA) told school districts to stay tuned for updates on the Race to the Top (RttT) grant program, promising to advise on "the value of supporting or not supporting" Ohio's application.?? Given the OEA's early concerns about RttT (particularly "over-reliance on student test score data") and their letter to Sen. Husted calling legislation to make Ohio more competitive "distracting" and "counterproductive", it seemed possible that local teacher unions (at the behest of the OEA) might try to thwart Ohio's chances of winning by encouraging districts to not participate.
A state earns points in its application for garnering support from LEAs (45 points to be exact). Union buy-in counts towards a state's odds of winning as much as turning around low-performing schools and implementing data systems. Stephen Sawchuck on Teacher Beat has been wondering for a while (see here, here, and here) how the level of union support in various states would impact the RttT competition.??
In Ohio, we don't have to wonder anymore. Last week the OEA posted two updates encouraging LEAs to carefully consider signing up, even promising that "some of Ohio's RttT grant will be used to support structural improvements to the system broadly" (a little misleading as to what RttT is about, if you ask me).?? OEA's attitude toward RttT seems far more acquiescent than it was several months ago (and worlds away from unions elsewhere) but the explanation for this is simple: Ohio's proposed reforms are so lukewarm that even the state's largest teachers' union is apathetic.
Meanwhile, Florida teachers unions are in an uproar over RttT, calling their application "fatally flawed" and refusing to support it due to the state's controversial MOU.?? The MOU would require Florida LEAs to adjust their bargaining agreements to reflect alignment with the Sunshine State's reforms, including a plan to base 50 percent of a teacher's rating (and merit pay decisions) on student test scores. Minnesota's trepidation is based on a similar fear of using student performance data to determine teacher pay and job security (not all that surprising--?? teacher unions fear test data as a measurement of "merit" or "performance" like a rabid dog fears water).??
All of this highlights a fascinating tension between two components of the RttT application ("state success factors"): the ability for a state to articulate a coherent, bold reform agenda (e.g. Florida) and the likelihood that it will secure LEA commitment (e.g. Ohio - Emmy speculates that since Ohio's plan is watered down, many of its 1,000 LEAs might end up signing on).
Hopefully the RttT reviewers will give credit to Florida for embracing a bold agenda, despite the fact that unions and LEAs are acting uncooperative. If Florida wins, it has the advantage of being able to distribute the money to a handful of targeted districts truly committed to bold reform, and this will be a powerful message for reformers and a blow to the established adult interests that prevent real reform from happening in places like Ohio.
-Jamie Davies O'Leary
