Local schools support rejecting federal program

 The superintendents of the Clarendon and Hedley public school systems say they agree with a decision by Texas Governor Rick Perry to turn down a new federal education program.

Perry announced last month that Texas would not submit an application for federal Race to the Top education funds.

“Texas is on the right path toward improved education, and we would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children’s future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington, virtually eliminating parents’ participation in their children’s education,” Gov. Perry said.

Clarendon ISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said the governor did the right thing.

“I thought it was good to turn it down,” Hysinger said. “It would have had a lot of requirements, and I think we need to let the states run education.”

Clarendon does take some federal title money currently, and Hysinger said the programs have lot of strings attached. Those programs include HeadStart and some programs to help at-risk students.

CISD’s budget is between $5.5 and 6 million, and about $500,000 of that is federal money, Hysinger said.

“It all comes with different requirements, and I think our state system is doing good,” he said. “This was going to lock Texas into something for eternity.”

Hedley ISD Superintendent Eric Hough also had good things to say about the governor’s action.

“Gov. Perry made a very wise decision,” Hough said. “There were a lot of strings attached, and we already do some of these things. You get to where you spend more to do what they want than what they provided to being with.”

Despite tremendous education successes, the governor’s office said Texas’ application would have been penalized by the U.S. Department of Education for refusing to commit to adopt national curriculum standards and tests and to incur ongoing costs.

Texas’ curriculum standards, which determine what students are taught in Texas classrooms, are set by the elected State Board of Education (SBOE).

Through Race to the Top funding, the U.S. Department of Education seems to be coercing states like Texas to suddenly abandon their own locally established curriculum standards in favor of adopting national standards spearheaded by organizations in Washington, D.C. While Texas could be eligible for up to $750 million in Race to the Top funding, it would cost Texas taxpayers upwards of $3 billion to realign our education system to conform to the U.S. Department of Education’s uniform vision for public education.