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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Out of the Race

by Abby Rapoport
January 13, 2010  |  1

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Texas won't compete for up to $700 million in federal grant funding, Gov. Rick Perry announced today.

“Texas is on the right path toward improved education, and we would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children’s future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington, virtually eliminating parents’ participation in their children’s education,” Perry said in a press release.

The Texas Education Agency has spent months readying an application for Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion competitive grant initiative by the U.S. Department of Education ...

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Comments (1)

  • jjbaskin wrote on 1/13/2010 4 p.m.

    I am not sure how Race to the Top (RttT) eliminates parents' participation in their children's education. Can someone explain to me? How does RttT create anymore burdens than we currently have? How does it deter parental involvement? Extending the governor's logic, if mandates to schools from people who are miles away deter parental involvement, does RttT deter parent involvement as much as the decade of state mandates to school districts that Governor Perry signed into law?

    I am also puzzled by his rhetoric: Isn't Robert Scott--the person who decided NOT to pursue these funds--an unelected bureaucrat?* (For the record, I think Robert Scott is a decent fellow, but doesn't calling him "an unelected bureaucrat" make him sound *E-vil*?)

    Sure wish we could foster a genuine discussion about the challenges of education in our state, but it appears that the governor would prefer to posture.