LAUSD Wants Federal Money

Details from the Daily News:

With California facing a possible lockout from a $4.35 billion federal education grant, Los Angeles Unified officials are hoping to branch out on their own to compete for the funds apart from the state.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this week requesting to apply for "Race to the Top," a competitive pot of stimulus dollars designated for school reform.

The grant is designed to be awarded through state departments of education, but recent criticisms by President Obama on California educational policies have led LAUSD officials to consider their own effort.

Obama reprimanded California for a policy that prohibits school districts from using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance.

But school critic Bill Ring thinks LA USD is still in no position to be making great claims for itself to the federal government:

LAUSD is in its third year of "program improvement status," a designation that means the district has failed to meet certain federal benchmarks under No Child Left Behind. "If they are asking for Race to the Top funds, it presumes that they are in a position to demonstrate that they know what to do to be effective," Ring said.

"There has to be a recognition that what we've been doing has not been working. If we are just going to posture so that we can collect the money, then the kids are going to be the ones who lose."

Data charts comparing SAT score results between L.A. and other area school districts, and the state as a whole.

Past City of Angles blogging on LA USD's cash problems.

The image associated with this post was taken by Flickr user bryan.norwood. It was used under user Creative Commons license.