Neighboring Prince George's County soon will be rolling in $23.4 million in federal cash, Baltimore City will take in $52.8 million and Baltimore County will get $17.4 million. Anne Arundel County will receive $6.9 million.
The Maryland State Department of Education released the funding distributions at a Senate education committee meeting on Thursday, as the state prepares to implement reforms that must accompany the funding.
The education agency is funneling half of the $250 million grant to participating counties and Baltimore and keeping the remaining money.
Montgomery stood to receive at least $12 million from the Race to the Top pot. But the county, with Frederick, declined to participate in the program citing concerns about changing its teacher evaluation system and standardized testing procedures.
State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick says the agency's share will fund statewide programs, such as teacher training seminars, and provide extra padding to counties that have additional needs.
The Race to the Top program ties teacher pay to student test scores, and requires teachers to work three years -- rather than the current two years -- to achieve tenure. In Maryland, reforms will require schools to ramp up data collection on students.
All local school systems will be required to collect a minimum level of data on students, Assistant State Superintendent Leslie Wilson told lawmakers on Thursday. She said the education agency will need more staffers to help develop the data system, and more money to sustain it. The agency has received roughly 700 applications for 70 new positions that will last just four years -- as long as the
grant is in place.
Grasmick said the program will be highly scrutinized.
"There are only 12 states that received this in the nation and so people are very, very interested or angry -- angry that they didn't get it or interested in what are the lessons learned from this," she said, "so they are expecting us to do this with a lot of fidelity."
Source: The Examiner
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