Now I know.

In my January 21st blog, I questioned where the federal money was coming for the Race To The Top program.  In short, it’s a program challenging states to alter the way they measure teacher success.  In exchange, states could be awarded millions of dollars.  Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, seeing an opportunity to receive nearly a half-billion dollars in aid for education, asked Tennessee lawmakers to conduct a special session.  After some spirited debate, the teacher’s union and lawmakers were able to hammer out a compromise and Tennessee jumped through the necessary hoops to advance its application.

While I’m not a big Joe Klein fan, I read his recent column in Time Magazine that criticizes New York for not even attempting to qualify for the funding.  In essence, the state left a potential $700 million on the table.  Why?  Push back from the teacher’s union. 

So where is the money coming coming from?  The $4.35 billion fund is carved out of last year’s $787 billion stimulus plan.  We can argue all day whether the stimulus is working or whether we actually have the money to pay for it in the first place.  In this case, if the government is to spend money, education is a good place to put it.  Throwing money at a problem isn’t the answer.  Throwing money at a problem but expecting different results because you’ve changed the rules for more accountability could be the answer.

We won’t know for years whether this stimulus money actually improved education in Tennessee.  We do know that lawmakers from across the political spectrum and the union came together to at least try move the ball forward. 
That’s more than we can say about New York.