Forty states apply for federal Race to the Top grants

Forty states and the District of Columbia applied for the first round of $4 billion in the Race to the Top Fund competition, which pits states against each other for desperately needed money, bragging rights, and leverage to implement controversial education reforms such as merit pay for teachers, Education Week reports.

The 10 states that did not apply by the first round’s Jan. 19 deadline were: Alaska, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Washington. Those states that did not apply, and any losing states from the first round, will be able to compete in the second round of competition, which is set for June.

“This exceeded our expectations,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who has made Race to the Top the most high-profile piece of his education reform agenda, said in a statement. “We received word from 40 states that they intended to apply, and thought there might be some drop-off. There wasn’t.”

Of the 10 states that did not apply in the first round, most did not come as a surprise. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, leveled sharp criticism at the Obama administration earlier this month, declaring his state would not compete for fear of a “federal takeover” of schools.

Rural states such as Montana and North Dakota had expressed reluctance because of the competition’s focus on education strategies they say may not work in their states, such as charter schools.

And Maryland state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick wants to seek legislative changes—to make it more difficult for teachers to get tenure and to link teacher evaluations to student test scores—before applying for the federal grants.

The current Race to the Top program is funded by $4 billion in one-time money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus package passed by Congress last year. Today’s deadline comes as President Barack Obama announced his plans to seek $1.35 billion from Congress in his fiscal 2011 budget request to extend Race to the Top for another year and open it up to school districts. ("Obama to Seek $1.35 Billion Race to Top Expansion," January 19, 2010.)