The founder of one the nation鈥檚 largest shooting and hunting supply companies is issuing a $1 million challenge to Missouri鈥檚 public schools.
The first school district to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence will receive a check, courtesy of Larry and Brenda Potterfield of Columbia, Mo. Larry Potterfield is the CEO of MidwayUSA, itself a Baldrige award winner in 2009.
The Baldrige Awards are a presidential honor given to organizations in education, government, small business, manufacturing, health care, and nonprofit sectors. About four to six organizations nationwide win the award each year.
Potterfield said the goal of the $1 million incentive was to get more districts involved in using Baldrige practices 鈥 which involve assessing a district based on a range of criteria, including leadership, strategic planning and process management 鈥 and place a heavy emphasis on measuring and improving performance over time.
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Potterfield has had little direct involvement in education in the past, but said he had been meeting with the heads of various education-related associations and school district superintendents during the past year to discuss how to apply Baldrige principles in Missouri schools.
Regardless of whether a district in the program gets the award, he said, any improvement benefits Missouri.
When it comes to education, Potterfield said, 鈥渨e鈥檙e a pretty average state today.鈥
Winning the award will be no easy task for the state鈥檚 districts, and it might not happen for a while. Since the awards were extended to include education in 1998, only six school districts across the country have received the honor.
To be considered for a Baldrige award, districts must first win the Missouri Quality Award 鈥 modeled from the national Baldrige contest 鈥 from the Excellence in Missouri Foundation.
The foundation hands out a few of the awards annually, and has given the honor to only one school district, Park Hill in the Kansas City area, in 2009.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very difficult award to gain recognition for,鈥 said Peter Herschend, president of the Missouri State Board of Education. 鈥淏ut to couple that million dollars with the hard work incentives of the Baldrige award, you have a very powerful force for change.鈥
Potterfield was aware of about 25 districts in the state that expressed interest in Baldrige principles, and said that of any district, the Springfield Public Schools district was the 鈥渕ost advanced鈥 in implementing them so far.
George Benson, chairman of the Baldrige Foundation, said he was surprised when the Potterfields contacted him; this is the first time a financial reward has been attached to the Baldrige competition.
鈥淚 thought it was an innovative idea,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a pull strategy instead of a push, instead of forcing improvements on a school.鈥
The Potterfields have already given the money to the foundation, which will disburse it to the first Missouri district to win the award.
The Potterfields also run the MidwayUSA Foundation, which raises money for high school and college shooting teams.
