Over the past two weeks, school boards across the state have engaged in some high-stakes debates over whether or not to join the competition for federal dollars in a program called Race to the Top. In the end, 28 of 70 school districts, comprising less than half of public school students, applied to receive grants from Louisiana's expected $300 million share of the $4.35 billion national pot. (The state Department of Education will take half of the money for statewide programs.) 

   Why did not more school districts sign up? Parents and taxpayers in non-participating parishes might wonder why their board members would pass on free money to use for improving the lowest-performing schools. School board members answer that, like most things from Washington, the Race to the Top funds come with some heavy, potentially costly strings attached.

   While the driving principles behind Race to the Top are supported on both the left and right, from President Barack Obama to Gov. Bobby Jindal, critics of the plan also run the gamut from teacher unions to fiscal conservatives.

   Opponents describe it variously, as:

* More misguided federal stimulus spending from the Obama administration to bribe school districts to do what they and the states can do on their own;

* A means of forcing a radical departure from traditional methods of evaluating and compensating teachers, which will shake up the profession;

* A funding trap for school districts, which, after the federal money runs out in three years, will be forced to raise taxes to maintain new programs and higher teacher salaries;

* A further intrusion by the federal and state governments into the authority of local communities to run their schools as they see fit.

   Those are all valid descriptions, just as they are also good reasons why the Race to the Top, strings and all, is worth running.

  To qualify for awards, school districts would be required, among other things, to use student performance in evaluating teachers and in determining their pay raises. It's called performance pay and is among the most controversial issues dividing public education today.

  Its time has come. Student improvement would only be one factor compensating individual teachers, but it makes as much sense as traditional benchmarks of experience and post-graduate degrees. Good teachers are not just in it for the money, but that doesn't mean, as with other professions, they can't be motivated by financial incentives to produce better results. Because more potential for improvement lies with low-achieving students, performance pay can help to attract talented teachers to poor schools that they might otherwise avoid.

   Race to the Top probably did not belong in last year's federal stimulus bill, since its money won't be getting into the economy until later this year. Yet it would have found its way into the budget somewhere, because it is a priority for the president. Like it or not, the money has been committed, and Louisiana can go for its share or leave it to another state.

   It's true that districts taking the money for programs and pay raises will be on the hook to maintain those expenditures themselves when the federal funds run out in three years. But another way to view that is, in its current fiscal straits, the state probably can't afford to grant teachers a pay raise in the next three years. For participating districts, Race for the Top could fill a gap until finances improve for the state and local districts.

   Race to the Top does extend the long arm of the federal government deeper into community schools, and many locals resent the intrusion. The long arm of state government, however, is not far behind. Gov. Jindal has said he will ask the Legislature to set in law performance pay for teachers. His timing is good, because Race to the Top will, in effect, fund pilot programs for the new policy in a large number of schools. If such is the future path for education in Louisiana, then schools making the Race to the Top will have that much of a head start.