Betsy DeVos: My COVID-19 Competitive Grants Aren't Like Race to the Top at All

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Last month, U.S. Secretary of Education designed to help parents access online learning and other educational services during the coronavirus pandemic. This money represents a tiny fraction of the recently adopted federal relief package鈥檚 money for K-12 and higher education, but it drew a lot of attention from reporters, analysts, and others.

So is it Betsy DeVos鈥� version of Race to the Top, the Obama administration鈥檚 signature competitive grant program for education?

Rick Hess, who writes an opinion blog for 澳门跑狗论坛, published Thursday. Here鈥檚 the main part of DeVos鈥� response:

Not even a little bit. I don鈥檛 see any parallels, to be honest. Race to the Top was wholly designed by the Obama administration to advance their policy priorities. It was a significantly larger pot of money鈥攂illions versus millions鈥攁nd it gave states no choice but to adopt their top-down directives, like adopting common curriculum standards, in order to receive funds.

Our discretionary grant competition is completely the opposite. It鈥檚 a small pot of money鈥�1 percent of the CARES Act funding鈥攁nd it has no link to any of the other funding streams. It also gives great latitude to the states to come up with innovative ways to address helping students most impacted by coronavirus-related education disruptions. Yes, it is focused on reforms, but they are reforms that any intellectually honest person would have a hard time arguing aren鈥檛 needed.

Background: . The Coronavirus Relief, Aid, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed by President Donald Trump in March set aside 1 percent of the nearly $30 billion in K-12 and higher education aid for the secretary to distribute to states that have the 鈥渉ighest coronavirus burden.鈥� That鈥檚 the authority DeVos used to create these grants, which are titled 鈥淩ethink K-12 Education Models.鈥�

Here are a few things to know about DeVos鈥� response:

She鈥檚 right that in terms of the total dollar amount, her CARES Act grants are a lot smaller than Race to the Top. DeVos gave out $180 million in that 1 percent set aside for the 鈥渕icrogrants鈥� for families and other flexible spending鈥攕o in terms of K-12, that鈥檚 actually less than 1 percent of all the CARES money earmarked for education (higher education got aid as well).
Meanwhile, the initial Race to the Top grants got more than $4 billion from the 2009 stimulus. Tennessee鈥檚 2010 Race to the Top grant alone was more than two-and-a-half times bigger than the entire K-12 competitive grant program DeVos is talking about. The Race to the Top grants were roughly 4 percent of total education spending in the 2009 stimulus, which isn鈥檛 a huge share of the pie either. But the kind of disparity DeVos is talking about still matters.

DeVos is most prominent for pushing for educational choice, whether that be private school vouchers, education savings accounts, charter schools, or other forms. Her signature proposal in Congress And she鈥檚 frequently emphasized how . DeVos advertised the new 鈥淩ethink鈥� grants by tying them to the idea that leaders should to help students as they address the pandemic.
So to imply that Race to the Top was 鈥渨holly designed鈥� by the Obama Education Department to 鈥渁dvance their policy priorities,鈥� but that these grants are not strongly connected with DeVos鈥� preferences, might not ring true for some.

You鈥檒l get different and very strongly held opinions about what Race to the Top represented, and what it became over the life of the grants鈥攚e won鈥檛 get into all the history here. Some argue that the roots of what states agreed to do under Race to the Top had been in the works for decades, and represented a key step forward for education policy. Others say the idea and that the Obama Education Department was too concerned with inputs not just outputs. And certainly, states had significantly different experiences with Race to the Top. It is significant that Democratic candidates for president in 2020 have avoided pitching anything like Race to the Top.
DeVos鈥� grants aren鈥檛 designed to drive systemic changes to fundamental policy areas like standards and accountability systems the same way Race to the Top did. However, they could help initiate or expand programs like online learning that could take on increasing importance as the nation grapples with COVID-19.