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Friday, May 8, 2009
A blueprint for challenge grant cash?
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was in Ohio today for a “rally for education” with Gov. Ted Strickland, who is in a tough fight to get his budget, and the attached 10-year education reform plan, through the Republican-controlled state Senate.
The mere presence of Duncan at such a rally was an interesting show of support for Democrat Strickland and his reforms, many of which match nicely to the education reform priorities of the Obama administration. Duncan, when asked, stopped short of saying he “endorsed” Strickland’s plan, but expressed support for some of its features.
Congress is in the process of flowing $100 billion in economic stimulus aid for schools to all 50 states. (Ohio got about $1 billion for schools.) That’s helping Strickland hold his reform plan together for now. But he knows he’ll need more money going forward to keep momentum.
One potential source to tap is $4.35 billion in “challenge grants” that Duncan has total discretion to award to as few or as many states as he wishes.
With Strickland’s plan in pretty good alignment with what Obama appears to want, it would seem there is a decent change of getting some challenge grant money here, which could help fund the education reform plan. How much money this could be is a big question. At Friday’s event, Duncan and Strickland gave some hints.
During his speech, Duncan said challenge grants could benefit “five, 10, 15, 20” states, depending on the quality of the proposals. (Keep in mind that the department has not even created the request for proposals outlining exactly what they are looking for yet.) Afterward, I pressed him on how the money might be spread. He has been adamant that he will resist pressure to give money to everyone, focusing instead only on truly innovative states.
So I asked, would he really only give money to five states? Is it possible five states could walk away with as much as $1 billion each? He did not say no.
“It’s not about the number of states,” Duncan said. “We will work with however many states there are. It could be five, eight, 10 … we just don’t know yet.”
For his part, Strickland said he felt Duncan’s support at the rally was a good sign.
“His being here, perhaps, will be helpful to us when we apply,” Strickland said.
That’s where it got a little interesting. Strickland added that he had spoken with Duncan and gotten some guidance. Duncan, he said, suggested partnerships with other states and, especially, bipartisan coalitions of states with both Republican and Democratic governors applying together.
In fact, Strickland said he had already spoken with “two or three other governors” about a joint application, although he declined to identify what states were involved.
Hmm. So suppose a bipartisan coalition of Midwestern states were to apply. For fun, let’s say Ohio, Michigan and Indiana get together and ask for a pile of cash for education. I can’t help but notice that these three states also are politically important to President Obama, and states he won in 2008.
Duncan said that will not matter. He said repeatedly that this was not about politics. But he said it while speaking at a political rally in favor of embattled education reform plan proposed by a Democratic governor in a politically important state.
Perhaps Ohio, used to being ignored once presidential campaigns end, has a chance to be a player in the challenge grant game.
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