Thursday, November 26, 2009

Massachusetts RTTT meetings

I just received a schedule of meetings with various interested groups (school committees, unions, administrations) on Massachusetts' application for Race to the Top funding. A few points of interest:
  • MA DoE is setting a due date for regional proposals of January 8. The state then has until January 19 to get the state application in.
  • Half of the state's grant (for Massachusetts, if the state gets it, would get between $150-$250 million) would go to districts. Take either number and divide in half and then divide that among all of the cities and towns. Not a high number...
  • Only districts that sign a "Memorandum of Understanding" will be able to apply to the state. The state will release its memorandum of understanding in mid-December. Anyone want a legal opinion on who signs that? Very interested in what that will say.
I've got the list of dates. It's not clear that these are open to the public, but I'll see if I can get to one and post what I learn.

FOLLOW UP:
If you're looking for more on RTTT, you can find the DoE's FAQ online, as well as the Executive Summary, which on page 2 gives us the all-important 500 point scale (note the 15 points in the final section for including math and science ["STEM"] of which states get all or nothing). I'll be doing a ten minute overview on RTTT at the CPPAC meeting on Tuesday night (7pm at the Worcester Public Library); I'll post my notes here closer to the day.

1 comment:

Neil and Joan said...

The WPS already has MOUs with the State DESE on existing grants. These MOUs are signed by the Superintendent.