Another foot in the door for Race to the Top?

Changes to how teachers and administrators are evaluated could again be on the horizon - and no, it isn't through a teacher tenure bill.

Instead, those changes and others are included in the state's application for millions of federal dollars through the Race to the Top grant - of which school board members and teacher's union representatives will again have to consider jumping on board.

Eric Williams, district accreditation facilitator and grant writer for Hernando County, said he's preparing to present school board members information concerning the second state application for $3.4 billion available in the second phase of the national grant competition.

That means school leaders will again consider signing on with the state. The more school districts and teacher union representatives sign on, the more the state's application will be considered, Williams said.

Should Florida garner the grant, Hernando County could receive as much as $2.2 million a year for four years - or $8.8 million. If board members don't sign on, Williams said Hernando County would not receive any money if Florida is approved for the grant.

However, one thing that hasn't changed since the prior application is the concern that the grant won't cover costs to meet new guidelines that school districts would have to follow, including creating new curriculum and increased teacher development initiatives.

"Yes, the money we receive will likely not be enough to cover all the things we have to implement what we would be required to do," Williams said. "But, in my opinion these are changes that are coming down the line eventually whether we sign on with this or not. Already some of these are almost unfunded mandates - but if we're going to have to do these things down the line anyway, we might as well start on that while there's a little funding behind it."

Unlike Florida's first application that school board members narrowly approved - and the union president refused to - Williams said this application contains language that should appease union representatives and offer more local control.

Joe Vitalo, president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association, said although he is pleased with changes made to the application, he's concerned that the required changes would be too much for Hernando County and other school districts to afford.

He also would not commit to whether he would sign on with the state or not.

"Eventually, that money will run out and we have to consider what the long-term effect will be to have to fund all these requirements," Vitalo said. "If it's something that will result in having to cut programs in the future to fund, then it's not something that's in the best interest of the kids."

However, Vitalo said he does approve of rewritten language in the application that allows for more flexibility of when changes could be implemented, rather than requiring school districts to make changes all at once.

Among the required changes are:

• Adopting national standards for English, math and other core classes.

• Additional advanced placement courses and other higher education preparation initiatives.

• Additional data mining tools that include reporting teacher evaluation data and pooling assessment scores for parents to view.

• Have student test scores be used as part of teachers' and administrators' evaluations. Williams said how "student growth" will be defined for the assessment is still being debated.

Other changes included lengthening school days or the year into the summer months and moving higher performing teachers to lower performing schools (with additional incentives).

In January, school board members voted 3-2 to sign a memorandum of understanding with the state that was included in the application for the grant.

Board members who voted against the measure said the rush to push the application through worried them, while they also agreed with Vitalo about the funding for the changes.

However, in March, Florida was passed over to receive some $600 million in the first round of grant money. Tennessee and Delaware were chosen instead.

Meanwhile, Williams said he's optimistic board members and Vitalo will sign on with the grant. However, much work needs to be done before the matter is presented to them during the May 18 board meeting.

"I think their support will be based in part on how supportive Mr. Vitalo is of the measure," Williams said.