Advance Illinois opposes recent efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to strip $500 million from the Race to the Top, along with other cuts to reform initiatives.  Executive Director Robin Steans urged lawmakers to reject these efforts.

“While we appreciate federal efforts to prevent further painful cuts in schools across the country, we can’t let today’s crisis thwart tomorrow’s reforms,” said Steans.  “Illinois leaders, and those in other states, made difficult choices, hammered out tough compromises and came together as an education community around necessary, transformational change for our students. That process was spurred, in large part, by the promise of a federal investment in those reforms. If that promise is broken, then those reforms could be endangered.  That kind of thinking — putting long-term reforms at risk in favor of a short-term bailout — is how we got into this mess in the first place.”

We urge you to oppose this bill, and call your local congressperson via the Congressional Switchboard at 202-225-3121.

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Illinois has stepped up again in the “Race to the Top,” the U.S. Department of Education’s competitive grant program. Today was the deadline for States to file their applications for Phase 2 of the Race, which could bring up to $400 million to Illinois to help drive reforms.

Today, Gov. Quinn signed key legislation to overhaul principal preparation, which should help improve the application.   Also, since Phase 1, Illinois has increased its support from districts for the application.   For a look at how the “Race to the Top” has spurred reforms across the country, you can read more in the New York Times.

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Delaware and Tennessee have won Phase 1 of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition.   The DoE announced the winners by twitter today.  Read more in the WSJ.   Illinois was a finalist, and will now start the work toward Phase 2.

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