Balt. Sun: Weast says Race to the Top $ not worth it

On March 9, 2010, Superintendent Jerry Weast announced at a MCPS Board of Education meeting that he was recommending that MCPS submit their OWN Race to the Top application. Weast was making it known that he was not supporting the State's application, even without seeing the State's submission.


Now, Superintendent Weast attempts to re-write history by writing in the Baltimore Sun that MCPS shouldn't have been chided for not "blindly" signing on to the State's application.


But Weast had already made it known over a month ago that he was not supporting the State's application. His intent to break from the State was clear long before the State's application was made public.


Here's Superintendent Weast's attempt to spin his position for The Baltimore Sun readers:

The Baltimore Sun: Montgomery rightfully wary of ‘Race to the Top’

County supports state’s goals but must safeguard the gains it has made

By Jerry D. Weast

April 19, 2010

...When the application was released, the Montgomery school system was immediately chided in a Baltimore Sun editorial for not being willing to blindly sign on to the state's plan before having a chance to review it....

...We are also not interested in simply racing after money: The state estimates MCPS would receive about $12 million if Maryland is awarded a Race to the Top grant. That's .5 percent of our budget, hardly worth unraveling years of successful reforms...