Thaindian News

Aug 24 (THAINDIAN NEWS) According to the United States Education Department, nine states and the District of Columbia have won the second round of President Obama’s 4.35 billion dollar “Race to the Top” grant competition for school reform. Exactly how much each state will receive is expected to be released at a later time.

The spokesman for the Department stated that the winning states include Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. Maryland was thrilled as it’s Governor Martin O’Malley and School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick had made a trip to Washington at the beginning of the month to try and get some of the funds.

Secretary Arne Duncan stated, “These states show what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children. Every state that applied showed a tremendous amount of leadership and a bold commitment to education reform. The creativity and innovation in each of these applications is breathtaking. We set a high bar and these states met the challenge.”

The decisions as to which states won the grants were based on both the funding which is available as well as the quality of the applications sent in by the state. “We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round,” Duncan reported. “We’re very hopeful there will be a Phase 3 of Race to the Top and have requested $1.35 billion dollars in next year’s budget. In the meantime, we will partner with each and every state that applied to help them find ways to carry out the bold reforms they’ve proposed in their applications.”

In the first round of competition which was held in March, Tennessee and Delaware won, sharing the $600 million dollar grants. The latest winners are expected to share the remaining 3.4 billion dollars, but that has yet to be confirmed.