Gov. Ritter Names Lt. Gov. O'Brien to Spearhead "Race to the Top" Education Effort

Gov. Bill Ritter has named Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien to spearhead a special effort to compete for a share of more than $4.3 billion dollars for Colorado's education system. The "Race to the Top," as it is known, is a competition created by President Obama's administration by way of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will provide financial support to top states that have demonstrated their commitment to improving education systems in their states. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is expected to distribute $4.35 billion nationwide to a short list of states.

 

"Colorado has worked very diligently, and achieved noteworthy successes concerning innovative education reform efforts over the past two and a half years," said Lt. Gov. O'Brien, who also co-chairs Gov. Ritter's P-20 Council on education reform.  "As a result, we should be in a good position to make the case that Colorado is among the elite states in the nation regarding education reform."

 

Lt. Gov. O'Brien will lead a steering committee that will prepare a proposal that will be submitted to Secretary Duncan's office this summer. Funds are expected to flow in 2010. States competing for the funds will need to demonstrate significant progress in education reform, specifically in the areas of improving the collection and use of longitudinal data, achieving equity in quality teacher distribution, improving chronically low performing schools, and improving state standards and assessments.

 

"Last year, we recommended and the legislature passed the CAP4Kids bill, a cutting-edge policy that aligns state standards and assessments with postsecondary and workforce readiness. CAP4K is very clearly in line with the Obama administration's stated priorities.  In fact, all of the "Race to the Top" priorities are issues the P-20 Council and the Department of Education have been working on for the past two and a half years. I'm approaching this task with enthusiasm and tremendous optimism, and I'm looking forward to the collaboration with the Colorado Department of Education and the Legislature," said Lt. Gov. O'Brien.