North Florida school districts, unions question federal grant

The state is hoping for as much as $900 million from the four-year Race to the Top initiative for education reform. It estimates that if it receives $700 million, that would translate locally into about $21 million over four years for Duval County down to about $506,000 for Baker County. The amounts for each participating county climbs or drops if the state gets more or less money.

Districts would use the federal money to help make student performance more of a factor in teacher evaluations - and their pay raises - and provide more financial incentives for teachers working in low-performing schools. It also would help districts provide more planning time for teachers, increase the length of the school day in low-performing schools and increase the number of full-time pre-kindergarten programs.

One of the most controversial strings is that to get the money, districts will have to agree to some sort of pay-for-performance system for teachers. But the state hasn't determined exactly what it will look like.

Some districts also worry about out-of-pocket money they'll have to ante up just to get the federal grant. And some are concerned that they may be forced to overhaul staff at some of the state's low-performing schools - many that already have seen new principals, top administrators and some teachers this year - if the schools don't show immediate improvement.

Duval County Public Schools, for instance, said it could get between $20 million and $30 million for four years, depending on how much is given to the state. But the district said it could cost at least $16 million a year to pay for the initiatives called for in the grant. Other local districts have said they don't think they would have out-of-pocket costs.

"I'm very concerned," said Duval County School Board Chairwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson. "I'm not going to vote to do anything that I think is going to take public schools from the public."

She and her fellow board members are also concerned about what will happen to low-performing schools if they fail to make big gains next year. The district is already facing state mandates to make substantial improvements at four schools by the end of this year or have to make more big staff changes at those schools. Participating in Race to the Top would add seven schools to that watch list.