New York state has been awarded $700 million dollars in federal funding to support education reforms with a second-round win in the government’s Race to the Top grant program.
The win taps into a $4.35 billion fund, an unprecedented federal investment in education reform.
“New York’s victory in the Race to the Top award is a victory for the children and the families of all New Yorkers,” said New York State Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer.
The state had lost its round one bid in the finals earlier this year. Hoping not to miss out again, the stakeholders worked hard to achieve the win in round two, committing to significant changes prior to submitting a new application.
The state legislators pushed through a number of laws in May, most notably increasing the number of charter schools allowed in the state to 460. New York state currently has 170 charter schools.
In an effort to improve the quality of educators, a controversial law was also passed to make teachers and principals accountable for student academic performance, effectively giving the state the ability to identify and remove ineffective teachers and principals.
To help poorly performing schools, legislators have also opened the door to non-profit organizations, such as Mass Insight, that specialize in taking appropriate actions to facilitate improvement.
State reforms, highly targeted to meet the government’s key Race to the Top priorities, led the state to an improved score in round two, which turned out to be among the highest of the 11 winners.
“I was confident that if we all came together, we could transform our state’s educational policies to enrich the learning experience for all students,” said Oppenheimer, chair of the Senate Education Committee and champion of the reform legislation.
New York City will receive between 250-300 million of the grant money.
“Our students have shown tremendous improvement and now—as a Race to the Top participant—we will work with our teachers and school administrators to raise the bar once again,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia have been awarded money through Race to the Top. The Government estimates 13.6 million students and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools will benefit from the grants.
The win taps into a $4.35 billion fund, an unprecedented federal investment in education reform.
“New York’s victory in the Race to the Top award is a victory for the children and the families of all New Yorkers,” said New York State Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer.
The state had lost its round one bid in the finals earlier this year. Hoping not to miss out again, the stakeholders worked hard to achieve the win in round two, committing to significant changes prior to submitting a new application.
The state legislators pushed through a number of laws in May, most notably increasing the number of charter schools allowed in the state to 460. New York state currently has 170 charter schools.
In an effort to improve the quality of educators, a controversial law was also passed to make teachers and principals accountable for student academic performance, effectively giving the state the ability to identify and remove ineffective teachers and principals.
To help poorly performing schools, legislators have also opened the door to non-profit organizations, such as Mass Insight, that specialize in taking appropriate actions to facilitate improvement.
State reforms, highly targeted to meet the government’s key Race to the Top priorities, led the state to an improved score in round two, which turned out to be among the highest of the 11 winners.
“I was confident that if we all came together, we could transform our state’s educational policies to enrich the learning experience for all students,” said Oppenheimer, chair of the Senate Education Committee and champion of the reform legislation.
New York City will receive between 250-300 million of the grant money.
“Our students have shown tremendous improvement and now—as a Race to the Top participant—we will work with our teachers and school administrators to raise the bar once again,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia have been awarded money through Race to the Top. The Government estimates 13.6 million students and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools will benefit from the grants.
