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Chairman of the Select Committee talks about its impact on public schools in Texas
State Representative Jim Dunnam (D-Waco), Chairman of the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, released the following statement in response to Governor Perry's decision to not apply for federal "Race to the Top" education dollars:
By throwing in the towel before the competition has even begun, Governor Perry has officially won the race to the bottom.
The Governor and I have our policy differences - I passed a moratorium on the expansion of charter schools in 2001 while he actively pressured members to vote against it. I criticized him in 2005 when he used federal funds to create a divisive teacher incentive pay program. However, the one thing that he and I should both agree on is that our schools need as much support as possible. There's a pot of as much as $700 million dollars in grant money that the Governor doesn't want our state to compete for.
Rick Perry's decision to decline to submit Texas' application will have a devastating impact on our children. While I don’t necessarily agree with all the scoring provisions in the Race to the Top Funds, I know a good deal when I see one. Competing for grants that will incentivize our state to lower the achievement gap, decrease the drop-out rate, and better prepare Texas children for college is good public policy.
Throughout the spring, virtually every time TEA Commissioner Robert Scott came to testify in front of my committee, he talked about Race to the Top. It's hard to understand why, after the TEA spent 800 hours preparing the application, Perry wouldn't even bother to send it in. My committee staff has spent months working with the TEA, the Department of Education and other committee members to help ensure Texas got its slice of the pie. It's a shame that Governor Perry is putting the education of 4.8 million schoolchildren on the line for his reelection campaign.
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