Secretary Duncan Announces Race to the Top Finalists

Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the finalists for Round Two of the Race to the Top competition – 18 states and the District of Columbia. Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion program created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that provides competitive grants to states to implement education reform programs. The 19 finalists will have a chance to present their Race to the Top proposals to a panel of judges. Final scores will be assessed after the presentations and the top states will receive grants. There is $3.4 billion available for this round of awards after Delaware and Tennessee received a combined $600 million in Round One. Secretary Duncan said that he expects to make 12 awards to states.

For the most part, the 19 finalists are no surprise. Favored states like Georgia, Florida, and Illinois, which have solid records for reform, all made the cut. These states ranked third, fourth, and fifth in the Round One scoring, further solidifying their reputations as reform-focused states. In fact, the states that scored third through sixteenth in Round One all made it in the finalist list for Round Two (Delaware and Tennessee, the Round One winners, ranked first and second, respectively).

But there were some surprises. Arizona, which ranked 40th in Round One with 240 points, made it into the Round Two list of finalists. According to news reports, all Round Two finalists scored above 400 (out of a possible 500), which means that Arizona gained at least 160 points between the first and second rounds. Unfortunately, the Department of Education has not yet made score breakdowns for each state available so we don’t know what about Arizona’s new proposal improved its score so significantly.

Wild card California also made it on the Round Two finalist list, despite a Round One score of 336, placing the state 36th. However, California’s Round Two application differed significantly from its Round One application. The state chose to focus on a few large school districts including Los Angeles Unified, rather than seeking to gain more universal buy-in from its more than 1,000 school districts. Secretary Duncan specifically ok’d this plan for California, inspiring some vocal dissent for the plan.

Hawaii and New Jersey are also unlikely finalists. Both states scored below 400 in Round One, ranking 18th (New Jersey) and 22nd (Hawaii). Maryland, which didn’t apply in Round One, also made the list. And there are some states that didn’t make the cut, like Utah and Oklahoma, which were expected to make it through in Round Two.

Of course, without further details on how each state scored in this round, we cannot speculate one who the final 12 or so winners may be. And the Round Two Race to the Top process is far from over. States still need to present their proposals to the judges, which could further change rankings from where they currently stand.

Similarly, Secretary Duncan will have to determine how he will negotiate the distribution of funds among states to maximize the impact of the program. For example, if large states like California, Florida, and New York all receive grants (at a maximum of $700 million each), there will be far less left for the smaller states. Conversely, if none of these states receive a grant, there will be a lot more to go around for the smaller finalists like DC, Hawaii, and Rhode Island.

Luckily for the finalists, the entirety of the current Race to the Top funding is likely to remain intact – cuts to the program passed in a House spending bill were rejected by the Senate. And Race to the Top may continue past the current competition as well – both the House and the Senate Appropriations subcommittees included some amount of Race to the Top funding in their 2011 bills.

Check back with Ed Money Watch more details on Race to the Top.