Florida Wins Race to the Top Award
Tampa,
August 24, 2010
Congresswoman Kathy Castor released the following statement today regarding Florida winning a Race to the Top award:
Congresswoman Kathy Castor released the following statement today regarding Florida winning a Race to the Top award:
“With this $700 million Race to the Top award, the new school year in Florida and Florida’s students are off to a fantastic start. This award means the outstanding collaboration in Florida has been recognized. Our students will benefit and will have the tools and resources they need to succeed. Educators will have the ability to focus on the needs of the students they serve and design reforms specifically for them.
“Our first application was too top-down driven and was not based on collaboration by all stakeholders. This time, we did it right. Teachers, parents, school districts, school boards, the state Legislature and education-related nonprofits were represented in a working group to improve our application.
“This money couldn’t come at a better time. The Race to the Top award, along with the $555 million heading to Florida from the Education Jobs bill Congress approved this month, will help our financially struggling school districts offer a quality education for Florida children while creating and saving jobs in our economy. We remain committed to getting every dollar possible for Florida’s children.” In the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, Florida will receive approximately $555 million to support an estimated 9,200 education jobs. In Castor’s Congressional District 11, which includes parts of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties, schools will receive approximately $36 million. That translates into roughly 610 saved education jobs in our elementary, middle and high schools. |