Schools

Board of Ed to Investigate Race to Top Requirements

The Board of Education has not yet made a decision on whether to accept Race to the Top funds.

The continues to analyze the Race to the Top funding money—and the question is whether complying with Department of Education requirements attached to it would be more expensive than the money district would receive.

“Nobody ever sneezes at additional funds around here,” said Judy Haas, Education Committee chairwoman. “But we need to see what the reward points is and if we have to do $170,000 worth of stuff for $17,000, we are able to decline at some point.”

According to figures from the State Department of Education, Hillsborough Township Schools would receive $17,721 in Race to the Top funds, from the $19 million slated to go to 372 New Jersey districts. However, in order to receive the funding, districts must agree to participate in certain portions of the state’s overall Race to the Top Plan.

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Districts interested in the funds were required to sign a Memorandum of Understand by Feb. 17, though they are legally entitled to withdraw from the Race to the Top plans, according to the Department of Education. By withdrawing, a district would forfeit its Race to the Top funds.

The State Department of Education outlined four areas from its education reform agenda that should be the focus of the funds. The areas include developing curriculum and assessments for all content areas that match state standards, developing and rolling out an online instructional improvement system that allows teachers to access curriculum models, formative assessments, and instructional tools, implementing the state’s teacher evaluation system and creating a pilot program to evaluate principals and strengthening the department’s practices for authorizing charter schools.

Find out what's happening in Hillsboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Portions of that plan, such as the teacher evaluation model, haven’t yet been developed by the state, Human Resources Committee chairman Chris Pulsifer noted. As a result, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Scott Rocco will keep updating the board about the progress on the model, while the committee will continue to develop its own evaluation system, Pulsifer said.

But the key to accepting the Race to the Top funds is ensuring that the state’s aims align with practices the district would undertake anyway.

“If the requirements are things that we would be doing anyway, we’ll happily take the money,” Haas said. “So we’ll be following up.”


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