PEABODY — The School Committee picked up the baton on the Race to the Top federal grants, reversing course four months after they flatly refused to compete for the money.
The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to join other districts across the state in applying for the controversial funding. If the state is successful in its second application round, Peabody stands to receive about $120,000 a year for four years, Superintendent C. Milton Burnett said.
Districts have until May 24 to submit their applications to the state for the next round of funding, Burnett said.
Massachusetts was one of 16 finalists but eventually lost out on funding. State education leaders have resolved to go after the funding a second time.
Meanwhile, districts like Peabody that are grappling with deep budget cuts are enticed by federal dollars, even if they have strings attached. The money is tied to the adoption of federal standards on student performance and teachers' evaluation and pay.
Some of the Race to the Top money would go toward data analysis of student exams, and Burnett recommended applying because the tasks would be imposed on the district eventually, anyway.
It's a point that committee member Brandi Carpenter couldn't ignore.
"I'm not going to get stuck paying for it," said Carpenter, who was the only member to vote for the funding in January.
Two committee members, Jarrod Hochman and Thomas Rossignoll, switched their votes Tuesday night, though both said they believe the funds could be better spent in the district.
"If they're going to give us something, at least they'll give us money for something we're doing currently," Rossignoll said.
David McGeney vehemently opposed the district's application, saying Washington is imposing onerous tasks on districts without any appreciation of what city schools need. Peabody does not need another data analyst, he said.
He called the Race to the Top grants a waste of taxpayers' money and predicted the project would be a "boondoggle."
"They want an accomplice to this crime," he said, "and I don't want to be a part of it."
Edward Charest, siding with McGeney, said he doubts the state would even be selected for the federal money.
Missing from the meeting was Beverley Dunne, who had strongly opposed Peabody's participation in January. In the past, she had misgivings about the state's ability to guarantee how the grants would be administered.
Though he could see both sides of the argument, Mayor Michael Bonfanti, the board chairman, said he supported Peabody's application.
The city will also have to go forward with its application absent the support of the Peabody Federation of Teachers.
In January, the union agreed to sign on with the district but has since pulled back its endorsement.
"Now that we have looked more closely and heard more about the requirements that are being placed on the local districts, there's just too much not to like," union President Bruce Nelson said yesterday.
Nelson said for the amount of money coming to districts, very little would help teachers in the classroom.
"It's a ridiculously small amount of money to be chasing after," he said.
The teachers union president also took aim at the federal standards, which are below Massachusetts'. The state has topped the nation year after year for its test scores and has nothing from the federal government to show for it, he said.
"I say this very sarcastically, I admit, but, hey, we already won," Nelson said. "Doesn't the defending champion get something? I guess not."
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