While the fireworks at Monday's meeting of the Legislature's Education Committee centered on the Department of Education's mismanagement of a grant that funds 33 after-school programs across the state, the meeting also played host to a noteworthy discussion about Maine's application for up to $75 million in the federal Race to the Top application.

(Steve Bowen noted much of the discussion in his live blog of the Monday meeting.)

First, there was some consternation voiced -- from Rep. Patricia Sutherland, D-Chapman -- about the quantity of typos in the final version of Maine's Race to the Top application. (Download it and see for yourself how many errors there are.)

Deputy Education Commissioner Angela Faherty said, essentially, that it came down to the wire. In the end, the contractor Maine hired to aid in the application process -- WestEd, which Maine hired with grant money from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation -- didn't have the time to polish the numerous essay responses.

"It was a rigorous process," Faherty told committee members. "It felt very rushed."

"It is our hope that our application will be competitive," she said.

Rep. Edward Finch, D-Fairfield, raised concerns that, with Maine signing onto the national Common Core academic standards, Career and Technical Education risked being forgotten among the mix.

Have no fear, Finch was told. Maine will always maintain Career and Technical Education as one of its content areas, Wanda Monthey, the Department of Education's Race to the Top point person, said. Plus, the Common Core standards at this point apply only to English and math.

Rep. Richard Wagner, D-Lewiston, wondered why only 82 of Maine's 215 school districts had signed on in support of the state's Race to the Top intentions. Even fewer local teachers' unions signed on.

"I'm not sure why, but I have some hypotheses," Faherty said. Mostly, engaging in Race to the Top initiatives "would put heavy burdens on communities."

Finch asked, "Do we feel that what we have done and what went into our applicatiion is bold reform or watered-down solutions?"

Faherty and Monthey said many of Maine's innovations don't fit the national mold for innovative practices. For example, there's no way Maine can satisfy the U.S. Department of Education on the charter school front; the independently run, public schools aren't allowed in the Pine Tree State.

Monthey said Maine's application writers emphasized three initiatives -- the Maine Learning Technology Initiative laptop program, the Maine Course Pathways program through which teachers have their course syllabi vetted, and implementation of standards-based education at the state level through the Reinventing Schools Coalition -- at any chance they got.

"If you read the application, you'll see those every place," Monthey said. "It was like an essay test."

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