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NC Named As Finalist In Race To The Top Educational Grants Program

By The Raleigh Telegram

Monday, August 2, 2010

RALEIGH - U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced last week that North Carolina is one 19 states that have been named as finalists to possibly receive a portion of rounds more than $3 billion that are still available in federal funding through the Race to the Top program.

“Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia submitted bold blueprints for reform that bear the signatures of many key players at the state and local level who drive change in our schools,” Duncan said in a statement..

Including the 36 applications for the second round of Race to the Top, a total of 46 states and the District of Columbia applied for either the first or second rounds - or both.

The 19 finalists are: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

Duncan named the finalists at the end of a speech at the National Press Club.

Duncan said in the speech that schools need to challenge “defeatism and inertia that has trapped generations of children in second-rate schools.”

The Race to the Top funds includes federal money for the Investing in Innovation Fund, the Teacher Incentive Fund, the School Improvement Grants under Title I, and the federal charter school program.

“Through all of these programs, the Department of Education will be distributing almost $10 billion to support reform in states and local communities,” said the White House in a released statement.

“As we look at the last 18 months, it is absolutely stunning to see how much change has happened at the state and local levels, unleashed in part by these incentive programs," Duncan said.

Around $3.4 billion remains to award grants to winners in the second round.

The finalists chosen will travel to Washington during the week of August 9 to present their plans to the peer reviewers who scored their applications. After the state's presentations and an extended question-and-answer period, the peer reviewers will finalize their scores and comments.

The Department will announce the winners of the competition in September.

“Just as in the first round, we're going to set a very high bar because we know that real and meaningful change will only come from doing hard work and setting high expectations,” Duncan said in a released statement.

Duncan acknowledged that not all of the finalists would be awarded grants from the almost $3.4 billion remaining in Race to the Top. President Obama has requested $1.35 billion for the program in the administration's fiscal 2011 budget.

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