There are two interesting items in this morning’s news that you might have missed.
I’ve said all along that the actual dollar figure in Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top was pathetically small given what he expects in return, including the demand that teacher evaluation and tenure rights be surrendered to single test scores.
Greg Toppo in today’s USA Today makes the same point.
It’s relatively small by Washington standards, but the Obama administration’s $4.35 billion carrot for schools is already leading states to adopt a handful of key reforms.
Not bad for $87 per kid.
And in today’s Chicago Tribune, the data suggests that the reports a few days ago that the stimulus bill saved thousands of teacher jobs was about as phony as Duncan’s Chicago school reform resume.
More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.
Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers.
“That other number, I don’t know where that came from,” said Lauri Hakanen, superintendent of North Chicago Community Unit Schools District 187.
Fred Klonsky 