Saturday, April 17, 2010

Patrick backing off Race to the Top Round 2?

And thanks to Jordan, who caught this. If you ever wondered what good tweeting does, here's your answer!

Today, speaking at the Massachusetts Young Democrats Conference at Harvard Law School, Governor Patrick said that we should not go after the Race to the Top funds if it means compromising our values.

Did the state executive branch just run up headlong against the bad ideas of the federal executive branch? Quite possibly.
Would they rather not go for a round 2 they know they can't win? Could be.
How much does this have to do with AFT earlier this week recommending that their member locals not sign on for Round 2? Some, probably.

It's not over yet! Watch this.

4 comments:

Jim Gonyea said...

Patrick needs to unions to get re-elected. The Police Unions do not back Democrats, ever, so they're already out. The next biggest and most vocal block are the teachers, and his policies and Chester the Weasel are now alienating the teachers unions. He'll likely have the SEIU, but if the teachers break he's got a problem. He needs union money. The corporate interests are a wild card right now. He doesn't have to worry about out of state money since the election this year contains a national component. If he continues to alienate the teachers unions his re-election is going to be in jeopardy.

Joe said...

I got an email from Stand for Children with the possibly misleading subject of "Students to receive support through turnaround plan".

He says of the April 12th School committee vote: "This plan will allow the district to qualify for $3 million in federal funding over three years and to provide additional resources and support for these schools."

Is that $3 million RTTT money, which we will not get if the governor opts out?(or maybe not, even if Mass goes for round 2)

Tracy Novick said...

Joe, no. Separate money. The turnaround grants are a different fund, and we WILL get them.
(the rules are the same now, though)

Joe said...

Thanks for the clarification.

Which program the money comes from and how to get it seems like a full-time job to track.