Morton's Salt to RTTT Wounds

In the wake of Alabama's Harold Stassen-like performance in the Race to the Top competition (37th in the first round, dead last in the second), Alabama State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton breaks out his poison pen for a blistering open letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The extraordinary letter—at turns personal, political, and policy-related—offers fascinating insights (a secret meeting between Duncan and the capo dei capi of the state's union leaders, Paul Hubbert) and a strong critique of not only the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant criteria, but also of the department's push for competitive grants generally.  

So what are the key takeaways from this critique? Here's Morton on

Charters: "No state without a charter school law was awarded one dollar." This is a very salient point. While most reaction to the winners focused on the status of teacher evaluations and union buy-in, the biggest common denominator among the winners was openness to charter schools.

Rules of Engagement: "No charter schools and no teacher union support automatically took Alabama out of contention as it would have any state."

Tact: If you are going to have a "clandestine meeting with Alabama Education Association (teacher union) officials" it is not a good idea to allow the meeting to be photographed.

The Fed's Role: Morton notes the Alabama State Board of Education has yet to vote on common core standards adoption. It's up for vote this November, but RTTT might have sunk common core prospects. "I believe incorporating the Common Core standards into the points system for RTTT greatly jeopardized their adoption in some states . . . including it in RTTT appear to some to move it toward federal government control."

What's Missing: "RTTT virtually ignores it [STEM]."

What's Broken: "If much of future federal funding is built around a flawed competitive system I believe history will judge [Duncan’s appointment as Secretary] to be as flawed as the RTTT process has been to date."

Reciprocity: "Alabama had the lowest score among the applying states and is now having much of its education progress negatively impacted." This may be one of the most important assertions in the letter and very likely to be overlooked amid the juicier parts.

The RTTT application process drove states toward adopting certain policy reforms. For the states that didn't win, does the ride end there? Without grant money, can losing states underwrite newly adopted reforms? Will the public be more skeptical of a state’s proposed reforms because of their rejection by Secretary Duncan? Morton is saying Alabama's reforms are in jeopardy; is this the case in other states? It is a huge question because the losing states far outnumber the winners, and it has big implications not only for future grant competitions but also ESEA reauthorization.