If California wins in the second round of Race to the Top, a competition between states for more school stimulus money, only a handful of school districts in San Diego County would get a share.
California was picked as one of 19 finalists for the competition Tuesday, making it eligible for up to $700 million. (Educated Guess does a nice job of analyzing its chances here.) The state didn’t win in the first round of the competition but tried again, using a different approach. It tapped seven superintendents from different school districts to create its new application.
School districts from around the state could then choose to sign on to the plan. In San Diego County, only six out of 42 school districts did so: Bonsall Union Elementary, Coronado Unified, Del Mar Union Elementary, Rancho Santa Fe Elementary, San Ysidro Elementary and South Bay Union Elementary.
However, a number of independent area charter schools are in the running. The High Tech High schools are in, as are All Tribes, Arroyo Paseo, College Preparatory Middle, Darnall, EJE Elementary and EJE Middle, Explorer Elementary, Iftin, Guajome Park Academy, Tubman, Health Sciences High and Middle College, Helix High, Keiller, KIPP Adelante, two local schools linked to Magnolia Science Academy, North County Trade Tech High, O’Farrell, River Valley Charter, San Diego Cooperative Charter School and Urban Discovery Academy. (California officials didn’t list the participating charter schools by county, so there may be more local schools I didn’t spot. You can see the full list here.)
Many school districts have shied from the race, which requires specific reforms in exchange for the money, including the controversial step of linking teacher evaluation to test scores. San Diego Unified was the largest school district in the state to sit it out.
— EMILY ALPERT