Frederica Freyberg:
Now back to Wisconsin and education news in the making. The governor and the state school superintendent will be doing homework over the weekend. They have until Tuesday to hand in a $250 million assignment. That's how much money is at stake for Wisconsin schools if the feds accept our state's application for Race to the Top money. The money is a nationwide carrot to motivate states to in innovative ways lift student achievement. Later we'll check in with the head of the state teachers union. First we talk with state School Superintendent Tony Evers.

Tony Evers:
Thank you very much. It's great.

Frederica Freyberg:
So is the ink dry on this application?

Tony Evers:
Very, very close. As we speak, we're having people put the final touches to it. We'll have it out the door today.

Frederica Freyberg:
Right up to the last. How many districts have applied for a piece of this federal money?

Tony Evers:
Counting our public charter schools and public schools there's 431 applicants that are going to be partnering with us.

Frederica Freyberg:
So there are very few districts really that have not applied to get some of this federal money.

Tony Evers:
Just a handful.

Frederica Freyberg:
So how much could each district get then?

Tony Evers:
Well, there's several ways that the money will be distributed. If we get the total amount that we hope, which is about $250 million. Half of that will go out to every school district under the Title I formula that we use. Then other parts will be competitive. But in order to get this money, districts have to make commitments to do certain things, and at least 431 of them have made that commitment, which is great. I think that talks about the character of our school districts in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:
What are our chances? 

Tony Evers:
I think the chances are real good. I believe the proposal is excellent. We've had good communication with our stakeholders and educational organizations. I feel confident. But the stakes are high. Every state is going to be giving that same answer.

Frederica Freyberg:
How big are these reforms that are required to get this money?

Tony Evers:
Some of them are very big. They focus on things that districts have had difficulty getting a handle on, such as making sure they collect and use data in the most appropriate way, to make sure that they have coaches for teachers and make sure that they have the best abilities and skills possible in the classroom, mentors for teachers. In addition, one of the things is going to be talking about effective teachers and what that means. So I think these changes are significant.

Frederica Freyberg:
When you talk about collecting and using data, are we talking about test scores?

Tony Evers:
Test scores and other things. I was in Racine yesterday talking to a number of teachers on the type of information they're collecting about their own practice. It was really kind of interesting. It's the kind of thing we hope every teacher in the state will be doing as we move forward. So it's not just test scores.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, in some of these materials I saw that some of the reforms include 4-year-old kindergarten, birth to four literacy programs, incentive pay for teachers in hard-to-staff schools, longer school days and year-round school. What is the ultimate aim here for the use of this money and the aim going forward?

Tony Evers:
There's no question it's about closing the achievement gap we have here in Wisconsin. It's one of the largest in the United States of America. And we must use this money to do the things that we know that work and you mentioned just a handful of them right there, that will help us close that achievement gap. That's what it's all about.

Frederica Freyberg:
What if we don't get this money?

Tony Evers:
These are all good reforms that we're talking about anyway. We will continue to pursue them on a basis locally and from the state level. But if we don't get it this time, we'll be reapplying next time. And that money will be available this summer. So it won't be too much of a delay.

Frederica Freyberg:
We do not have this application in hand because, as you say, last-minute touches are being put on it and the ink is not dry. But I see what looks like prongs of a children's zone in there. Is the Milwaukee Children's Zone specifically in this application for the Milwaukee district?

Tony Evers:
Yes, it is. And we set aside money, a substantial amount of money, within the state portion of that plan to contribute to creating a Milwaukee Children's Zone in a couple areas of Milwaukee.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you have a specific dollar amount that you can recollect from the hundreds of pages of this application that would go specifically to Milwaukee for that innovation, as well as others?

Tony Evers:
I'm sorry. I really don't. But I know it is a substantial amount. The good part about the Milwaukee area relative to this particular project, there's already been made commitments — or commitments made by philanthropic organizations to help start up these children's zones. And so we're in a good place. Honestly, just because we're up against the deadline, I don't have that number.

Frederica Freyberg:
And I don't mean to talk about the Milwaukee Children's Zone without kind of expressing what it is, but in just a moment we'll hear from Jeffrey Canada, who has the Harlem Children's Zone and we'll get more of a sense of what Milwaukee would like to do, because it's really very closely related to that. I did notice from the applications that we looked at that districts were encouraged to include the signatures of the school board president, the teachers' union local president, as well, of course, as the superintendent. Will that happen in all the districts?

Tony Evers:
Well, certainly just my perusal of some of the memoranda, everyone that came in had the superintendent or school board president signature or both. I would say the signing on by the teachers' association presidents has been limited. I don't know the exact number. I know there's some. But it is a bona fide memorandum executed if the superintendent and/or board member signs it.

Frederica Freyberg:
Right. But what does that speak to that the number of signatures coming from the union are limited?

Tony Evers:
It speaks to the complexity of the issues we are dealing with. The association presidents from around the state know that it is a bona fide application from those districts without their signature. There is concern on the parts of the associations across the state that the impact on bargaining is unclear. I don't see any reluctance around -- especially talking with people from — Mary Bell and others from WEAC that conceptually what we're talking about here are things that they support. But how that translates into bargaining locally is an unknown.

Frederica Freyberg:
That translates into how we hire and fire and pay teachers.

Tony Evers:
Exactly.

Frederica Freyberg:
Superintendent Evers, thanks very much.

Tony Evers:
You bet. Great to be here.