Through the $4.35 billion Race to the Top challenge, President Obama is asking States to tackle education reform around four specific areas:

1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;

2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;

3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and

4. Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

After a thorough and objective analysis of the criteria linked with Round One, Governor Gregoire and Superintendent Randy Dorn made a decision to focus on Round Two of the nationwide competition. The reasoning is that we now have time to conduct a gap analysis of our current statutes and the federal criteria and fill the void during the 2010 legislative session.

Personally, I would have applied for Round One to enable our state to learn on a meaningful level from the journey. It would have been a teachable moment to communicate with our 295 districts, teachers, organized labor, community activists and others about how we and the rest of the states are embracing this challenge. And to learn from one another more effectively. It would have forced us to go through the exercise itself and learn, learn, learn. Failure is not defined just as win-lose at the end of the game. By our unwillingness to go through the mechanics of Round One exercise, we lost a deeper opportunity to engage in a more meaningful conversation with the public and our teachers to better understand their true concerns, issues and frustrations about education reform ideas. We teach our kids to keep trying and to learn from failure.

Teachers are the soul of learning in the classroom. We need to embark on this journey together. The Washington Education Association and Governor Gregoire have been engaged in a serious, substantive and focused dialogue about Race to the Top for months. Everyone has been at the table and many of the controversial issues have been discussed. I believe WEA is a vital partner in this effort and they are committed to Race to the Top Round Two success while at the same time not pretending that these dollars are a substitute for a state commitment to fully funding education.

Now, the 2010 session begins in three weeks. The question before us–as an innovative and entrepreneurial state facing an economic crisis of unbelievable scale–is whether we are truly, genuinely, passionately and fully committed to winning in Round Two of Race to the Top? Some say yes; others say it’s talk.

Florida and Louisiana are well positioned; 14 other states are moderately well positioned; 16 are less competitive but still in the running; 10 states, including Washington, currently do not meet one or more selection criteria outright; 5 states don’t meet one more eligibility requirements at all. Thus, overall, we’re limping into the Race to the Top challenge in the far back of the pack. Our horse is rested and ready to roll, but we’re not sure we have the political stamina to keep the nervous energy about this challenge in check.

Are we committed to strengthening our partnership with teachers, administrators, legislators, activists and others to design a comprehensive effort to win our part or more of the federal funds?

I believe we are attacking this challenge with cautious optimism but a lingering doubt about our state’s policies and our politics. We’re hoping we can pass sufficiently strong legislation in 2010 that pushes us over the finish line. We all recognize, whether we are public or private about it, how poorly we are positioned overall for this national challenge. We are putting a lot of faith in the 2010 legislation, and I hope the Governor’s folks have done the legislative groundwork, community organizing and coalition building to prepare for this tough policy challenge in our 60 day session and beyond.

We are an innovative, entrepreneurial, engaged, educated, progressive and visionary state. We can do this together. But we cannot pretend that it will be easy.

On many levels we are not so distant from the federal criteria than many assume. We have a once in a generation opportunity to embrace systems reform, in partnership with districts, teachers, administrators and parents, but we must engage in the challenge together. We must tackle the specifics of each area above in the 2010 legislation in order to have a real chance of substantive federal funds.

A broad coalition of education advocates has done the ‘gap analysis’ and has assembled a list of legislative and policy changes needed to make our application competitive. League of Education Voters, Stand for Children, Partnership for Learning and others have done the real deal analysis, It’s good public policy work and entirely achievable. But it takes courage and conviction and community organizing. And it takes a courageously honest conversation with our teachers to understand how they feel about the suggestions and what ideas they have for improvements. WEA felt that last year’s House Bill 2261, Education Reform, was an empty promise and unfunded mandate. We must now tackle the funding challenges and talk openly about what it takes to get public funding for education back to the 50% range in the state budget. We’ve fallen to about 42%. How we do this in the long run will reflect our values and challenge our attitudes about the proper role of state government.

Legislators are pre-filing bills everyday in preparation for the 60-day session and the Governor and Superintendent’s request legislation is front and center. The window is open, the time is now, the opportunity is before us. We can unleash our entrepreneurial energy and spirit and believe in the possibility of systems reform in education. Each criteria is mapped out and we have a strong, viable story in every area. We need some statutory changes such as intervention authority in failing schools. Surely we can muster the strength to move forward together.

The Governor and Superintendent have led us to this point. Now it’s the Legislature’s turn.

Is bold systems reform more feasible when times are good or when they are bad and people are more open to change? I believe it is the latter.

Now is the time.

Your partnership in service,

Reuven.