Illinois school leaders will spend the next month and a half developing a plan to reform parts of the state's educational system in hopes of receiving up to $400 million in federal funding.
The money is available through the $4.35 billion Race to the Top program set up through the federal stimulus package.
The deadline for the state's application is Jan. 19, and Illinois will have to turn in a strong application to contend for any money in the competitive program, Illinois State Board of Education spokesperson Mary Fergus says.
State leaders say they're hoping previous efforts to develop a system for tracking student performance will help set the Illinois application apart.
Gov. Pat Quinn also named a 25-member council of government officials, school leaders, parents and others this week to help chase the federal grant money.
"We believe we're in a good place to compete for this," Fergus said. "This money is unprecedented."
Some of Chicago's prominent government officials were named to the committee, called the P-20 Council, including Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman and City Clerk Miguel del Valle, who will chair the committee. A full list of committee members can be found here.
“With these appointments, Illinois is sending a strong signal to Washington that a top-notch education for all students is a foremost priority,” Quinn said in a news release.
The federal program focuses on allocating money to states that show reform plans in the following categories:
State leaders received a $9 million grant in April to help fund the longitudinal system, which has been in the works for several years, Fergus says.
The system would allow schools to track individual student performance from pre-school age until the student is in college to accurately measure student growth and collect data that was previously unavailable to schools, Fergus says.
Because the program is so competitive, Illinois can't count on getting all of the $400 million, says Illinois Board of Higher Education Executive Director Judy Erwin.
The state is listed as "somewhat competitive" in a report put together this year for the program by The New Teacher Project.
More than 15 other states are listed in better position to get funds through the program than Illinois, according to the report.
"Race to the Top gives us the opportunity to possibly get some federal dollars to help us do this. We need to do it anyway," Erwin says.
The state still needs to work on some of the application's criteria, including improving teachers and school leaders and turning around struggling schools, Fergus says.
Any money given to the state from the program would be split down the middle, Fergus said. The Illinois State Board of Education would get half, and the rest would be divvied up to school districts that agree to follow the reform standards set up through the application, Fergus says.