8/8/2019 DOE Termination - My Draft Letter to Secretary Duncan

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My Draf t Let t er to Duncan

Below fo l l ows t he dra f t tex t I emai led to Chie f o f Sta f f R ich Bagger for a le t ter to

Uni ted States Secret ary of Educat ion Arnie Duncan.

I t m akes po in ts I knew the Governor s o f f i ce want ed, but does not i nc lude a c la imthat w e prov ided our grant i n terv iewers w i th the data our app l i ca t ion was miss ing.

From:Schundler,BretSent:Wed8/25/20104:10PMTo:RichardBaggerSubject:RE:LetterDraft

Doyouwantanychangestothefollowingtext?

B

DearSecretaryDuncan:

OnbehalfoftheStateofNewJerseyanditsDepartmentofEducation,IamwritingtorequestthatyouconsiderawardingNewJerseythe$75millioninstatewidereformRacetoTheTop(RTTT)fundingwhichremainsunallocated.

AmongstateswhichhavenotreceivedRTTTgrants,NewJersey'sapplicationscorewasthehighest,andourstate'sreformagendaandnearly1.4millionchildrenwouldmeasurablybenefitfromNewJerseyhavingthesefundstosupportitsreforms.

Asyouareaware,theRacetotheTopprogramasestablishedbytheAmericanRecoveryandReinvestmentActof2009wasappropriated$4billioninfunding.GrantsannouncedtodatetothetwelvewinningstatesofRound1andRound2ofthecompetitiontotalamaximumof$3.925billion.Therefore,$75millionremainsunallocated.

NewJerseywouldbeanidealanddeservingrecipientofthesefunds.NewJersey'sRound2applicationscoreof438.8isthehighestamongstateswhichdidnotreceivefunding,andourscorestrailsthatofOhiobyjust3points. Commentsfromourreviewersinclude:

"Theapplicationputforthaverystraightforwardandpowerfulreformagendathatclearlyfocusesonstudentsandtheireducationalwelfare."

"TheNJeducationreformagendaisclearandcomprehensive."

"Stateleadershipfortheinitiativeisstrong,andtheplansdemonstrateadeepunderstandingofthechallengesandopportunitiesofferedbythereformeffort."

"NewJerseyhasarticulatedastrong,comprehensivereformagenda"

8/8/2019 DOE Termination - My Draft Letter to Secretary Duncan

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"NJisandhasbeenamongthemostoutspokenstateleadersinsupportingdramaticreformsoverthepastdecade."

Further,itwasduetoaclericalerroronourpart,notduetoamatterofsubstance,thatNewJerseylost4.8pointsanddidscoreabovetwoofthestatesthatwon. OurapplicationdidnotincludeonesentenceinSection(F)(1)(i)whichhad

appeared

in

previous

drafts:

a

sentence

establishing

that

New

Jersey

increased

its

spendingoneducationasapercentageoftotalstaterevenuesfrom36.9%in2008to39.6.%in2009(afactthatwehadnotedinNewJersey'sRound1application). HadNewJerseybeenabletocorrecttheclericalerror,thosepointswouldhavebeenearned,andNewJersey'sapplicationwouldhaveearned9thplaceandfundingratherthan11thplaceandnofunding.

WhileNewJersey'seducationreformagendawouldbenefitfromfullfundingofits$400millionRTTTrequest,a$75milliongrantwouldstillaccelerateoureffortstobuildawebbasedstatewidelongitudinaldatasystem,developcriticalassessmenttools,andaccelerateourplansrelatingtotheprofessionaldevelopmentofourteachers.

I

ask

you

to

provide

New

Jersey

with

these

remaining

funds

not

only

for

the

sake

of

ourchildren,butsowecanmoreeffectivelymodelforallAmericahowsignificantlyourproposedreformscanworktoincreasestudentlearning.

Thankyouforyourconsideration.

Sincerely,

BretSchundler