WASHINGTON -- North Carolina is one of 16 finalists to receive a cut of $4.35 billion for education funding, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday.
The award program, called Race to the Top, was offered last summer by President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan as part of the federal stimulus act. It is meant to spur innovation in education and build competitiveness in the nation's schools.
Gov. Bev Perdue and four other state officials will visit Washington in two weeks for an interview with Duncan about the state's application. That interview will be videotaped and published online once final awards are announced in April.
Winning the money would be an enormous boost to education in North Carolina at a time when the state faces budget troubles in the year ahead.
In a conference call with reporters, Duncan said Thursday that he expects to award less than $2 billion to just a few states - emphasizing that the contest is far from over for the finalists.
"Each of them has a shot at winning, but most of them will go home as finalists," Duncan said. He would not discuss specific state applications, but the winning scores and judges' comments will be published in April.
Another round of money will come through in June, and Obama has requested $1.35 billion more for Race to the Top in his fiscal year 2011 budget.
The other finalists are Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
In its application, North Carolina sought $469 million, but it more likely would receive $200 million to $400 million, according to a range offered by the Department of Education. Duncan said financial requests had no bearing on state scores.
The state came out ahead despite some perceived shortcomings in its education system - including a cap on the number of public charter schools in North Carolina at 100.
In September, state officials wrote Duncan objecting to the administration's emphasis on charters as a major tool for innovation. They highlighted the state's early colleges, the virtual public school and other changes to traditional public schools it has embraced.
Obama is a strong proponent of charter schools, and many observers thought such schools would be a key component of states' applications. Some states applying for the grants changed their rules in recent months to allow more public charters.
Other finalists, though, also come up short in that category; Kentucky, for example, doesn't allow charter schools.
Duncan told reporters Thursday that the administration never had intended to reject states over the issue of charters.
"Charters were never going to be the determining factor," he said. "We tried to be very, very comprehensive and look at states holistically."
Areas of innovation
The grants award innovation in four areas: recruiting and developing teachers; turning around struggling schools; preparing pupils for a global economy; and building computer programs to track students' progress.
In its 300-page application, North Carolina said it had already outlined these goals in 2007. The state plans to graduate 80 percent of high school freshmen by the 2013-14 school year and send 70 percent of its graduates to college.
"With these goals, North Carolina leads the nation in making a sweeping commitment to systemic change that emphasizes preparation for 21st Century work and citizenship," state officials wrote in the application.
Each of the 16 finalists scored at least 400 points on a scale of 500, Duncan said.
The finalists include many Southern, right-to-work states, which often score toward the bottom of national rankings on public funding of education and don't have to battle strong teachers' unions.
Duncan said the states' geography or union status had no impact on their applications.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who wrote a letter in support of the state's application, praised its selection as finalist.
"Our teachers and administrators are among the best in the country, and they are 100 percent behind this Race to the Top initiative," she said in a prepared statement. "I am continuing to help push North Carolina's effort to secure this funding."
