More charter schools would open in Northern Virginia if Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell gets his way with hoped-for stimulus dollars up for grabs at the U.S. Department of Education.
In D.C., residents would see more schools restructured to provide options like language immersion programs, for example, or schools with an arts focus.
Those details are part of what has emerged as D.C., Virginia and Maryland officials make plans to secure a chunk of the more than $4 billion in “Race to the Top” grant funds designed to spur innovative practices such as charter schools and teacher performance pay.
One challenge, however, is figuring out how to concede to needing the dollars without conceding too many weaknesses.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley might have the biggest challenge in the region, staring at a $2 billion budget deficit but having staked much of his reputation on the state’s schools, named best in the nation last year by Education Week magazine.
O’Malley appeared Monday before the state’s P-20 Leadership Council — named for its focus on pre-school through college education –and said that although the state “[hasn’t] had to play catch-up” on bright ideas, he expects to secure some federal dollars.
“The criteria laid out by the administration [for winning the funds] align very closely with our reform efforts here in Maryland,” O’Malley said, citing a commitment to science, math and technology education, and the building of a data system that will track students’ progress throughout their school years.
District of Columbia Superintendent Kerri Briggs, who oversees public and charter schools, has an advantage spared from O’Malley: a clear need for reforms, many of which are under way.
“There are some great on-the-ground conditions that make us a compelling competitor,” Briggs said, citing a handful of fledgling reforms that would benefit from more dollars such as D.C. Public Schools’ system for assessing the performance of teachers and staff, and efforts to attract teachers from outside of the education field.
In Virginia, McDonnell is banking on charter schools to bring in the dollars. Currently, the state’s law restricts all but a handful of them, and none operate in the D.C. suburbs. McDonnell will “introduce legislation to remove existing barriers to the expansion of charter schools,” said his spokesman Tucker Martin.
In addition, he will create an advisory panel to “bring experts in charter school creation and operation into state government,” Martin said.
