NYC Teacher Expresses A Perfect Level of Outrage

"We had to find a way to change the educational direction of Mayor Bloomberg and [Schools] Chancellor [Joel] Klein," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. "That's what we used Race to the Top for."

The quote above from a Daily News article on NY winning RTTT funds led to this response from on the NYC Education listserve:

Huh?  Aren't many of the 'programs' that Race to the Top will fund expanding and extending the educational direction of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein?  Am I missing something?  

This statement is similar (in its duplicity) to the one teachers received when we were notified about how the UFT "saved" teachers choice; we should be oh, so thankful, for $110. 

Considering I have spent about $800 on my classroom this week in preparation for the school year, I'm not feeling too thankful.  And while $700 million in education funding sounds great, I am thinking I am not going to be too thankful for my "teacher report card" tied to student test scores, more emphasis on testing, expansion of the leadership academy, more charter co-locations... on and on.  I wonder if, at the very least, teachers will finally get some pencils with that $700 million?  For that I would be mildly grateful... throw in some paper and I might not know what to do with myself.

By the way, a NYC teacher told me she was out spending almost a thousand dollars of her own money. Apparently two charter school teachers overheard that public school teachers get $110. They expressed outrage at the unfairness of it all.