Superintendent Jack-O'Connell
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell today announced 760 local educational agencies (LEAs) have submitted a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in order to partner with the state of California in the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) competition.

Under the Obama Administration’s guidelines, Race to the Top calls on LEAs to voluntarily partner with the state to implement reforms that improve student outcomes. California’s MOU was developed in accordance with recently released final Obama Administration Race to the Top guidelines. The MOU establishes a framework of collaboration and articulates specific roles and responsibilities for the LEA and the state if California does win a federal RTTT grant.

Forty-four percent of the school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools in California have signed the RTTT MOU, representing 57 percent of students attending California K-12 public schools. Sixty percent of students living in poverty attend a school in an LEA that has signed up to participate in RTTT.

Of the total number of LEAs that signed an MOU, 449 are school districts or county offices of education, 308 are charter schools, and two are Regional Occupational Programs.

Of the 760 LEAs that submitted a signed MOU, 561 or 77 percent also were signed by the local LEA’s school board president, and 120 or 25 percent included a signature by the local LEA’s teachers union leader.

The MOUs will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education as part of California’s RTTT application.

“There is tremendous momentum in California to make the systemic changes to improve our public education system called for in the Race to the Top,” O’Connell said. “I am very pleased that more than half of the public school students in our state will get the direct benefit of our reform work by attending a school that is participating in Race to the Top. By making wise investments in state and local systems that will accelerate and drive growth in student achievement, the Race to the Top ultimately will help California better prepare all of our students for success in the competitive global economy.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $4.35 billion nationally for RTTT. California may be eligible for up to $700 million. The competitive grant program is designed to encourage and reward states and LEAs that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform with a specific focus in four core areas:

Adopting internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals;
Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and
Turning around the lowest-performing schools.
The final deadline to submit California’s RTTT application to the U.S. Department of Education is 4:30 p.m. EST on January 19, 2010.

For a complete list of local educational agencies that have submitted a signed RTTT MOU, please visit http://www.caracetothetop.org/cs/rttt/print/htdocs/intent.htm

For a sample of the Memorandum of Understanding, please visit http://www.caracetothetop.org/cs/rttt/print/htdocs/participate.htm.