Murrieta Valley School District Seeking Federal Funding Through State

March 30, 2011

The California Department of Education is moving ahead in its efforts to compete for part of $4.35 billion in federal education funds, the single largest pool of discretionary funding set aside for education reform in U.S. history, state education officials said Monday.

School districts and local education agencies across the state were asked to voluntarily join with the state in its Race to the Top, which could bring in up to $700 million for California.

In Southwest Riverside County, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District is listed as one of 798 out 1,756 districts statewide to participate in the call to support education reform.

In a news release Monday, State Superintendent Jack O’Connell said that almost half of the state’s local education agencies have already stepped up to the challenge.

“The federal Race to the Top competition has spurred tremendous interest among an amazing array of talented educators in California,” said O’Connell. “By investing in state and local systems that will accelerate and drive growth in student achievement, the Race to the Top will help California develop a highly skilled workforce, fuel future innovations, and maintain California’s standing as a leading world economy.”

Murrieta Valley Unified School District Spokeswoman Karen Parris confirmed that the district’s Educational Services Department submitted its intent to join the state.

“We do not know at this point what will be involved in the application process,” Parris said. “Dr. (Superintendent) Scheer wants to position the district to receive any funding that we might be elig ible to receive.”

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. Department of Education and President Obama invited states to apply for the competitive grant. Race to the Top Funds were designed to inspire American educators, rewarding them for implementing plans in four core education reform areas:

Adopting internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals;
Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and
Turning around our lowest-performing schools.
According to Hilary McLean, spokesperson for the California Department of Education, if California is a selected as a federal recipient, 50 percent of the funds awarded to the state would go to participating districts for four years, starting in 2010-2011. The other 50 percent would be used for program implementation at the state level.

At press time, the Murrieta district was the only one in Southwest Riverside with plans to participate.

Lake Elsinore Unified School District was not listed by the California Department of Education as a participating district, nor was Menifee Union School District.

According to Melanie Norton, spokeswoman for the Temecula Valley Unified School District, as of Monday, their district did not believe it would file an application.

“The program has multi-year implications and there is no certainty of continued funding,” Norton said. “In other words, the concern is that if we were to implement new programs stipulated by the grant, we will have to find another source of revenue to continue those program s once the grant funding ends.”

Backed by O’Connell and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and passed by the state senate, the department of education is still waiting on the go-ahead from the state assembly — which is expected this week, said McLean.

“We are hoping lawmakers will agree to pass the legislation necessary to move forward,” McLean said. “It would be a devastating turn of events if they didn’t. The legislature is known for doing things at the last minute, why would this be any different?”

For now, McLean said the department will continue to prepare its federal application packet, due on Jan. 19 to the U.S. Department of Education. Participating districts are required to turn in a Memorandum of Understanding to the state department by Jan. 8, and the first phase of federal recipients will be announced in April.

“The reward is funding, but the dual reward is implementing reform,” McLean said. “We think this is a really good way to put reforms in place to benefit all students, creating an era of collaboration with educators. It is the first time we are going to be able to reward them by providing the support to teachers and principals to make improvements to even the lowest of the lowest performing schools.”

To learn more about California’s Race to the Top, visit www.caracetothetop.org .