State is determined to retain Race funds

State education leaders sought to reassure lawmakers Wednesday about the future of Hawaii’s $75 million Race to the Top grant, saying they are making gains and plan to seek more clarity about the kind of progress federal authorities want to see in order to take the grant off "high-risk" status.

"While not everything is perfect, I can assure you that each of the projects in the Race is moving forward and we have a plan for it," Stephen Schatz, assistant superintendent for the state Department of Education’s Office of Strategic Reform, said at a legislative briefing. "Our first and foremost goal is to exit our high-risk status."

Meanwhile, it remained unclear how the overwhelming rejection by teachers last week of a six-year proposed contract would affect the four-year Race grant. The continuing labor dispute has been blamed in part on putting the grant at risk.

Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said the rejection was a disappointment, and that movement in contract negotiations in time for a visit by federal reviewers in late March would be welcomed.

"It would be wonderful to have an agreement with HSTA (the Hawaii State Teachers Association) at that time or some other concrete accomplishment," Matayoshi told lawmakers at the briefing, which centered on Race to the Top education reform efforts.

After the briefing, Matayoshi said she is "hopeful" Hawaii’s Race grant can emerge from its "high-risk" status soon, but stressed reforms will move forward even if the federal government rescinds the grant.

"I know it’s a ton of work," she said. "But we can’t give up. That’s not an option."

The briefing was held a little over a month after the U.S. Department of Education took the major step of reprimanding Hawaii for "unsatisfactory performance" in meeting Race to the Top goals, and warning the money could be lost if more gains aren’t made.

Hawaii is the only state in jeopardy of losing Race funding.

State education officials had hoped the proposed teachers contract would help appease federal education reviewers — and show them Hawaii was able to make good on ambitious education reform pledges.

With the contract’s rejection, officials said Wednesday they were looking to determine exactly what the Obama administration wants from Hawaii — and what goals can be met without a collective bargaining agreement.

"We are seeking more specificity," Matayoshi said.

The proposed contract rejected last Thursday included several elements of Hawaii’s Race to the Top plan, including a new evaluation system based in part on how teachers affect student learning, performance-based compensation and tenure rules.

The U.S. DOE has said some of Hawaii’s significant delays in reaching Race goals stem from the months-long dispute with teachers — and the lack of agreements on initiatives including new teacher evaluations — but other delays were linked to staffing issues and miscalculations on the amount of time needed to complete projects.

The labor dispute began in July, after the state unilaterally implemented a "last, best and final" contract offer for teachers with wage reductions and higher health insurance premiums.

At Wednesday’s briefing, Matayoshi and others said that in the past six months the department has been able to make progress on several areas of the Race grant, which aims to boost student achievement, turn around low-performing schools and improve teacher effectiveness.

Areas of progress include the reorganization of the DOE’s state offices, the rollout of nationally standardized learning benchmarks and the adoption of tougher graduation requirements.

Ronn Nozoe, deputy superintendent at the state Department of Education, said it is a "huge change" for the DOE to focus on results and creating an environment in schools that leads to students graduating ready for college or a career.

"We can do this, but we just have to be really deliberate and systematized," he said, "There are a lot of forces that are trying to knock us off the block. But we refuse to."

The DOE is working to meet its Race pledges amid growing skepticism nationally over Hawaii’s ability to follow through on its ambitious plans under Race to the Top, a signature education initiative for the Obama administration.

A state-by-state report released Wednesday gave Hawaii a "D-minus" for its efforts to improve teacher quality, a key pillar of Race to the Top. Forty-three states scored higher than Hawaii, five were rated the same and one — Montana — got an "F."

Florida scored the highest marks, earning a "B," followed by Oklahoma with a "B-minus."

The report, from the National Council on Teacher Quality, rated states on their ability to deliver well-prepared teachers, expand the pool of teachers, identify and retain effective teachers and push ineffective teachers out of the profession.

"Hawaii’s lack of progress on teacher effectiveness policies is a disappointment, given the important strides NCTQ has seen in other states," council President Kate Walsh said in a news release.

At the briefing, several lawmakers asked what other measures the state could take to speed up Race to the Top reforms, and whether there were any legislative solutions. Gov. Neil Abercrombie has pledged to move forward with Race education reforms, even without a new contract in place, and has included in his package of bills to the Legislature one that would require teacher evaluations.

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said even if new evaluations are written into statute, "you have to have that buy-in" from teachers. "If we can partner all of us and work together, I think we’ll be doing great," she said.