Out of the race

In the end, the encouraging 11th-hour efforts of Gov. Brian Sandoval, the Clark County School District and the Clark County Education Association bore no fruit for local students. The district’s application for a Race to the Top grant from the U.S. Department of Education was rejected Monday.

The application was a long shot to begin with. The federal government received 372 applications for four-year grants worth between $5 million and $40 million. Just 61 school districts made the first cut, Carson City among them. Fifteen to 25 winners will be selected from the finalists.

Earlier this month, Gov. Sandoval negotiated a truce between the school district and the teachers union to get the application submitted. Obama administration rules required that unions sign off on grant applications. Beyond providing financial support, Race to the Top aims to better track student performance and hold teachers accountable – reforms that teachers unions typically resist.

Over the years, the school district and the state have put considerable resources into applications for Race to the Top help, which was born from Washington’s stimulus boondoggle. Initially, the state wasn’t even eligible for the grants because state law did not allow the use of student achievement data, such as test scores, to be used in evaluating teacher performance. That law has been changed, and the state is moving forward with a plan to improve teacher evaluations, incorporating achievement data.

No doubt, Race to the Top funding would have helped the Clark County School District. Had the district received the $40 million it requested, it would have hired 22 teachers and 24 support staff to help students at poorer schools become proficient in English.

However, in the bigger picture, this is no way to fund an education system. Washington collects tax dollars from states, then makes school districts beg and jump through hoops to get some of that money back? It creates a cycle of dependency. It’s not sustainable. And it certainly isn’t efficient.

We’d prefer to see Washington take less of our money (and borrow nothing at all) in the first place, then get its nose out of our schools altogether. Nevada school districts should be making their case for more funding to Nevada lawmakers and voters, not bureaucrats from everywhere but here.