California is working hard to achieve a substantial share of these funds by complying with the competitive education reform conditions that are tied to this grant. However, many astute analysts believe that obtaining a share of this grant is only a peripheral issue for California public education. The real aim of the state is to enforce major education reforms using this grant as a lever to achieve its goal. 

 

Race to the Top applicants must show progress in four key areas to compete for the $4.35 billion fund.  They must adopt rigorous academic standards, recruit and retain talented educators, turn around chronically low-performing schools, and build data systems to track student performance to teacher effectiveness. The Obama administration did however stress that teachers should not be judged solely on student test scores.  Other major changes include the creation of more charter schools and the ability for children in the lowest scoring 1,000 schools to more easily transfer to better schools. Finally parents of children in underperforming schools can ask for a state managed overhaul of their local school by collecting signatures of a majority of other parents.

 

Under the best of circumstances, California may get $700 million in a one-time grant. This works out to less than 1% of what the state spends on public education each year. It is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. However, this grant and the conditions tied to it, give the state an opportunity to push for fundamental changes to the educational system as well as boost spending. 

 

Many state leaders including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in particular, are all in favor of transforming the way schools operate in California. They would like to see more charter schools that are independent to set their own curricula, parental choice in picking schools, and higher performance standards for both teachers and students. 

 

The education establishment in the state, especially the powerful California Teachers Association (CTA), is against such reforms and blames a lack of funding for most of the problems in the California public education system. It is a fortuitous coincidence that the education reform agenda of the Obama administration matches almost perfectly with that of Scharwzengger. This is a golden opportunity for the Governor to push forward with his education reform plan using conditional federal grant money as the perfect tool. 

 

It is quite clear that California wants to clean up its education system to make it more progressive and results oriented.  It must be able to compete in an increasingly challenging global economic environment. Money must certainly be spent for improving the quality of public education, but the bitter truth remains that more than the lack of money it is the flaws in a system desperate for reform that are creating the real problems.