226 school districts in Washington join application for federal money

At least 226 of Washington state's 295 school districts have signed on to the state's application for $250 million in federal funding for education reform, state education officials said Monday.

A little more than a month ago, Gov. Chris Gregoire asked the districts to join her campaign for Washington to win a grant from the highly competitive federal Race to the Top program, saying, "everybody has to be part of the game for us to qualify."

Monday was the deadline for districts to say whether they would participate, but the governor and the state's education department were expecting more partnership agreements to trickle in over the next few days.

In Seattle, for example, the teachers union didn't vote on the matter until Monday night — and decided to sign on, as long as the district sticks to its agreement that any changes to the teachers' contract be negotiated.

The Seattle School Board had already agreed to join, as had the school district's principals association and Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. Each school district needs four signatures to get on the list: those of its superintendent and representatives of its school board, principals and teachers union.

The statewide teachers union and the superintendent and principal associations have expressed support for the state's reform plan, but the governor has asked local representatives to sign a partnership agreement.

The reform plan calls for higher academic standards, more preschool education and an emphasis on science and math.

The state also has committed to adopting national academic standards now in development, and will create financial incentives to get the best teachers and principals into rural, high-poverty and low-achieving schools.

Gregoire believes statewide involvement will give Washington an edge in the competition. Last week, she spoke at the Washington Education Association's representative assembly, encouraging leaders of local teachers unions to sign on.

"We are optimistic that they're going to keep on coming in," said Viet Shelton, a spokesman for the governor. "There's no line in the sand. It's a matter of getting as close as we can to all. That should be our goal."

Washington's application for Race to the Top is due in June. Winners are scheduled to be announced in September.