State's chances look good for second round of Race To The Top

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the selection of 15 finalists for the first round of Race To The Top competition on Thursday.

Washington state did not enter the first round of the competition for a share of $4.35 billion in special stimulus money to reward school reform efforts. Washington will wait until the second round this summer, and Gov. Chris Gregoire hopes an education reform bill coming out of the Legislature will boost the state’s chances.

A few interesting notes about the finalists:

While allowing charter schools is one of the key criteria, states without charters and states with weak charter laws made the cut. Washington does not allow charter schools.

Also, Gregoire said recently that Duncan has told states that they must bring their education unions along so they don’t hinder the reforms. Gregoire cites that need to defend critics who say the state bill was weakened to get the Washington Education Association to buy in. And she held up Pennsylvania as a state that is trying to move ahead without union support.

Pennsylvania is a finalist, and those handicapping the competition expect it to be among the winners in round one.

Here’s a paragraph from an Education Week story (go to http://tinyurl.com/ylrtfma for the article):

“Our first take on the list of finalists is that many of them are Southern, right-to-work states. New York is a surprise because many argue its student-teacher data law is weak, and its attempt to loosen restrictions on charters failed. Kentucky made the list, but has no charter law. Also, Colorado is the only Western state to make the cut.”

Peter Callaghan, staff writer