Rise & Shine: Numbers show charter cap lift not key to RttT win

Race to the Top:

  • Eastern U.S. states dominated Race to the Top’s winners. (Times)
  • New York was one of them, receiving $696 million. (GothamSchools, Times, Daily News)
  • New York City could see as much as $300 million of that. (Daily News, Post)
  • The state would have placed third even if it hadn’t raised the charter cap. (Daily News)
  • State education officials have ambitious plans for using the funds. (GothamSchoolsWNYC)
  • Actually seeing all the money depends on serious follow-through. (Wall Street Journal)
  • New Jersey missed out on funding because of a data goof, and officials are angry. (APPost)
  • The Post says the real Race to the Top win came in May when the charter cap was lifted.
  • The Daily News says the hard work of making sure the reforms are successful is yet to come.
  • Josh Greenman: Teachers unions were the only losers in Race to the Top. (Daily News)

News from New York City:

  • City unions want the city to use a federal education job fund to rehire laid-off school aides. (Daily News)
  • City teachers spend even more of their own money on their classrooms since funding was cut. (CNN)
  • Principal Mark Federman is sleeping in a tent to raise money for his Manhattan high school. (Daily News)
  • A Queens secretary spent $10,000 of school funds on her own expenses. (PostDaily News)
  • Employees at Manhattan’s PS 149 misused $30,000 and kept $10,000 in a cabinet. (Post, Daily News)
  • After a fight, Girls Prep Charter School will open its middle school in a private space. (WSJ, Times)
  • The city has launched a campaign to increase GED test-taking. (NY1)
  • A teacher at a Brooklyn charter school was arrested for sexually assaulting a student. (Post)
  • Two recent reports undercut the idea that Mayor Bloomberg is a good manager. (Gotham Gazette)
  • Some say a state test given this summer glorified Islam and criticized Christianity. (Post)

And beyond:

  • Ed Sec Arne Duncan’s goal of overhauling 1,000 schools is foundering because of logistics. (Times)
  • Duncan also wants more states to release individual teacher data. (L.A. TimesWashington Post)
  • White voters in New York State let school budgets take bigger hits than non-white voters. (Times)
  • Thomas Friedman wants readers to see the edu-reform documentary “Waiting for Superman.” (Times)
  • Stuart Buck argues that history shows segregated schools are superior. (Daily News)
  • Jerry Weast, the longtime schools chief in Montgomery County, Md., is retiring. (Washington Post)
  • Two students from New Orleans highlight the wide range in school quality post-Katrina. (NPR)
  • Louisiana is getting $1.8 billion for schools that were destroyed in Katrina. (Times)
  • Debate is raging over whether chocolate milk should be served in school cafeterias. (Times)