About 900 districts nationwide, including 76 districts and charter schools in California, have told the federal government that they plan to compete for the final $400 million Race to the Top district contest. Merely with local unions having in consequence a veto over their districts' application, that number could dwindle.

It'southward already starting. The executive board of Sacramento City Teachers Association voted concluding week to decline to participate, putting the kibosh on the commune'southward hope to join with Oakland Unified, San Francisco Unified, and ii other districts on a plan to ameliorate eye school math. The U.S. Department of Educational activity is requiring that an application include the signature of the local wedlock president as a sign that all parties will run into their commitments.

A sticking signal, not surprisingly, is instructor evaluations. Among the Race to the Top requirements, districts must commit to enacting a teacher evaluation system inside two years that gives pregnant weight to measures of pupil learning, including the employ of land standardized examination scores. With the Chicago teachers' strike and the defeat in California of AB v, a union-backed bill to rewrite the teacher evaluation law, fresh in their minds, teachers may not desire to be pushed into an agreement on the long shot that their commune will become a grant of between $5 million and $40 million, depending on their size.

After meeting with Superintendent Jonathan Raymond on Tuesday, leaders of the Sacramento teachers union agreed to brainstorm discussions on a new teacher evaluation arrangement. But they didn't alter their mind on Race to the Top.

In their statement listing their reasons for not joining the effort, they said they didn't want to be "rushed" into a new evaluation system and they pointed to "Greatness by Pattern," a report of state Superintendent Tom Torlakson's chore force on educators that deemphasizes "high-stakes testing and supports teacher evolution." (Update: Raymond said today that the report's recommendations would provide the basis for discussions with the union.)

Sacramento teachers are not lone. Dennis Kelly, president of United Educators of San Francisco, said that San Francisco teachers accept not been included so far in planning for Race to the Top, with the borderline for applying half dozen weeks away, and that teachers would non exist inclined to reopen negotiations on evaluations. The current contract includes evaluations based on California Standards for the Teaching Profession, which Torlakson's report recommends, and not "unreliable test information," Kelly said.

San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento City are role of the nonprofit organization California Office to Reform Education, along with five other unified districts: Fresno, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Sanger, and Clovis. Without teacher support, Long Beach has decided not to bring together Fresno in a two-district Race to the Top application. Last month, Warren Fletcher, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, expressed skepticism nearly participating in Race to the Acme just besides said he was willing to hear Superintendent John Deasy out. Los Angeles Unified intends to seek $xl one thousand thousand to expand career technical programs for high school students.

Two years ago, in the state'due south get-go round of Race to the Tiptop, the California Teachers Association discouraged local presidents from adding their signatures. CTA hasn't taken a stand up on the latest round.  In an electronic mail concluding calendar week, CTA President Dean Vogel said, "Our folks want more than data and nosotros are trying to conform that need. Right now, nosotros are unaware of any capacity participating."

Superintendents accept vi weeks to brand their example.

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