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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Down to wire on Race to Top | Thoughts on Public Education

Down to wire on Race to Top | Thoughts on Public Education:

Down to wire on Race to Top

Torlakson pushing for it; Brown must agree
By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

With applications due in Washington a week from tomorrow, Gov. Jerry Brown still hasn’t decided whether to let California apply for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. But, with Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson four-square behind it, the state Department of Education is preparing an application on the assumption – or at least the hope – that Brown will sign on.

Race to the Tots, as I call it, is a $700 million competition in which California could snare as much as $100 million to expand the quantity and improve the quality of its preschool and early learning programs. Early education advocates have called on the state to use the