OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR R i c k P e r r y

EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM, 1/13/10Governor’s Press Office: 512-463-1826

January 13, 2010Allison Castle: allison.castle@governor.state.tx.us News ReleaseKatherine Cesinger:kcesinger@governor.state.tx.us

Text of Gov. Rick Perry’s RemarksTexas Chooses Not to Participate in the “Race to the Top” Initiative

January 13, 2010

(NOTE: Gov. Perry frequently deviates from prepared text.)

Thank you, Senator [Dan Patrick] and thanks also to everyone here at the EducationService Center Region 4 for hosting us.I am here to announce that Texas will not apply for federal “Race to the Top” funding, because our state and our communities must reserve the right to decide how we educateour children, and not surrender control to the federal bureaucracy.This program is not a “Race to the Top,” but a sprint to the middle, where soaring costsand one-size-fits-all approaches will leave our children ill-equipped to compete in theglobal economy.The funding in question is certainly tempting, but it is one-time money. The obligationswe are being asked to undertake, including things like adopting national standards andtests, would be with us for years.Banking on the fact that cash-strapped states will sign away their futures for some up-front money, Washington is hoping to expand its power, by making it practicallyimpossible for states to win funding without accepting new national education standardsand tests, which, by the way, haven’t even been written yet.There’s a chance that, when they are written, they could end up being less stringent thanthe ones we already have. To me and to a lot of education experts and parents across our state, that smacks of a federal takeover of public schools.Here in Texas…and even here in this room…we do not have broad consensus on everyissue facing our school system, but we would much rather work out our issues in Texas,with solutions that work for Texans, instead of accepting a top-down mandate fromdistant bureaucrats.“Race to the Top” doesn’t make financial sense either.Adopting these new, unseen standards would require us to purchase new testingmaterials, teacher development tools, and textbooks.Such measures would cost Texas taxpayers upwards of $3 billion, all in a bid to snare aslittle as $75 per student, or the cost of a typical textbook. Knowing how DC works, we’d probably get even less than that.

Regardless of the dollar amounts, I am not prepared to sell control of our state’seducation system for any price. It could very well lead to the “dumbing down” of therigorous standards we’ve worked so hard to enact over the past several years.These standards were developed through an open process involving parents, teachers, and business leaders, and recently adopted by our elected state board of education, not byunaccountable bureaucrats in Washington.Together, we have created a system of educational standards and accountability that hasearned Texas praise as a national leader.For example, we were one of the first states to make a college-ready curriculum thestandard. We have increased transparency, making officials more accountable. We haveoffered troubled schools and districts the tools they need to turn themselves around.The results speak for themselves.In the past school year, TAKS scores were up in every subject and every grade, thedropout rate has decreased, and Texas was recognized as one of only four states to beclosing the achievement gap in math.If Washington were truly concerned about funding education with solutions that matchlocal challenges, they would make the money available to states, with no strings attached.Instead, they roll out “Race to the Top” and its tangle of red tape.On the heels of the healthcare fiasco, Washington is attempting to take over yet another essential function, and make even more personal decisions for our citizens. Do Texanswant to experience the mediocrity of an unresponsive, inefficient federal government inyet another key part of their lives?You can be sure a competitive state like Texas is in their crosshairs. Don’t take my wordfor it.Just last year, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said “If we accomplish one thing inthe coming years, it should be to eliminate the extreme variation in standards acrossAmerica.”Spoken like a true bureaucrat—more concerned with control and comfortable predictability, than with innovation, effectiveness and competition, or genuinelyimproving the lives of our young people.Like they do in nearly every arena, Washington wants one standard, a standard theycontrol, for all 50 states, mandating one approach to teaching children, no matter their background, the size of their community, or the nature of their specialized needs.Soon after Secretary Duncan’s speech, “Race to the Top” was slipped into the so-calledstimulus bill. This legislative sleight-of-hand was a cynical attempt to sidestep state protections included in the federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation passed in 2002,that prohibited the use of federal funds for the creation of national standards and tests“Race to the Top” is clearly an effort to entice states into abdicating responsibility andsurrendering their legal rights, in exchange for short-term, immediate funding.Instead of mandating yet another one-size-fits-all solution, Washington should encouragecompetition between the states to develop the best standards and programs, because