Aloha, Race to the Top
In the state of Hawaii, there is an ongoing political and legal battle that involves a Presidential initiative, the role of federalism, a governor imposing a settlement on the teachers’ union, performance pay, teacher evaluations, pay cuts, and the fate of $72 million in grant money.
What’s fascinating is that there isn’t a single Republican involved in any of it.
Members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association voted down by a 2-to-1 margin a collective bargaining agreement designed to address not only the state’s budgetary needs, but the requirements of the federal Race to the Top program, for which the state had been awarded $75 million. The result came as something of a shock to the HSTA leadership, which had unanimously approved the proposed agreement.
Katherine Poythress of Honolulu Civil Beat has had this story thoroughly covered, and has the best compilation of reasons why the proposal was defeated. It’s worrisome that the teachers quoted would not speak on the record because they “feared retaliation.”
Hawaii teachers have a number of options open to them now. They can return to the negotiating table, strike, abide by the contract imposed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, or continue with a legal challenge to the imposed contract. What isn’t clear is how Race to the Top can be accommodated in the wake of this rejection. Certainly the U.S. Department of Education can bend and interpret any subsequent agreement in Hawaii so that the requirements seem to be met. But it will set a bad precedent for the other states who battled through similar difficulties for their Race to the Top funds.
January 20th, 2012 at 12:54
You are right, it is interesting that politicians even within the same party are having trouble coming together on education issues.
I have been involved in education for decades, and that seems to be the thread that ties all education policies together. My research into past education practices puts emphasis on the community impacting the schools, which ‘might’ be even more important than the politicians’ involvement.
January 22nd, 2012 at 07:53
“In the state of Hawaii, there is an ongoing political and legal battle that involves a Presidential initiative, the role of federalism, a governor imposing a settlement on the teachers’ union, performance pay, teacher evaluations, pay cuts, and the fate of $72 million in grant money.”
Wait one month, insert ‘New York’ for Hawaii.