NYT: States Skeptical About ‘Race to Top’ School Aid Contest

[alp227]

A dozen governors, led by Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, sat with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a hotel ballroom in Washington a few weeks back, praising his vision and gushing with enthusiasm over a $4 billion grant competition they hoped could land their states a jackpot of hundreds of millions of dollars.

But for many of those governors, the contest lost some sizzle last week, when Mr. Duncan awarded money to only two states — Delaware and Tennessee.

Colorado, which had hoped to win $377 million, ended in 14th place. Now Mr. Ritter says the scoring by anonymous judges seemed inscrutable, some Coloradans view the contest as federal intrusion and the governor has not decided whether to reapply for the second round.

“It was like the Olympic Games, and we were an American skater with a Soviet judge from the 1980s,” Mr. Ritter said.

Colorado is not the only state where the initial results of the Obama administration’s signature school improvement initiative, known as Race to the Top, have left a sour taste. Many states are questioning the criteria by which winners were chosen, wondering why there were only two that won and criticizing a last-minute cap on future awards.

Besides Colorado, a string of other states — including Arizona, California, Nebraska, South Carolina and South Dakota — say they have not yet decided whether to keep participating.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/education/05top.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[Hannah Bell]

1. if the state govs push back (just as a matter of $$$ & the problem of short-term

funding that goes away in lieu of regular formula grants), that could put a kink in duncan, inc's plans.

[xxqqqzme]

2. duncan could stand a kink or two.

I am soooo not impressed w/ this asshat.

[Hannah Bell]

3. i suspect he *has* a kink or two. he's a big fat liar, for starters.

[Hardrada]

4. This "contest" idea seems like some kind of sleazy shopping channel

kind of BS, something you'd see on really late night television with guys wearing obvious rugs.

[4_TN_TITANS]

5. I'm not thrilled about our 'win' either.

I'm sure it was based on which states might be more receptive to charter schools.