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Education Briefs

Foundation gears up for Monte Carlo Night

Organizers from the Mountain View Educational Foundation have high hopes for this year's Monte Carlo Night fundraiser, with a goal of raising $80,000 to support art, music, after-school sports and performance electives in local schools.

The event features casino games, a live and silent auction, hors d'oeuvres, drinks and dancing. This year, astronaut Dan Bursch, who shares a U.S. space flight endurance record of 167 days in space, will talk about space exploration and answer questions during a special VIP reception.

The event, sponsored in part by Microsoft and HSBC, is March 27 at the Computer History Museum. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, and VIP tickets are $50. The fun goes from 6:30 to 11 p.m., with VIP reception beginning at 5:30 p.m.

To purchase tickets go to www.mvef.org. For more information, or to volunteer, contact event co-chair Rose Filicetti at (650) 965-9870 or write mvef.contact@gmail.com.

Last year's Monte Carlo Night brought in $75,000. The foundation contributes $320,000 to student programming annually.

State loses 'Race' funds

Earlier this month, 16 finalists in the first phase of the federal government's "Race to the Top" stimulus funding program were announced — and California was not among them.

The finalists were decided based on their commitment to "ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling and comprehensive education reform."

"I was not surprised that California was not selected by the federal government to participate in Race to the Top," said Mountain View-Los Altos High School District Superintendent Barry Groves. "There was not widespread support for the initiative throughout the state from all stakeholders."

California may apply for a second round of Race to the Top funding by June 1. The state is eligible to receive up to $700 million one-time dollars.

In January, state lawmakers passed controversial legislation to make the state eligible to apply for a piece of the $4.35 billion pot; among the measures were provisions allowing districts to tie teacher pay to student testing. Several prominent educational organizations, including the Association of California Administrators, the California School Boards Association and the California Teachers Association, opposed the bills.

— Kelsey Mesher