Kentucky Still Alive in Phase 2 of Race to the Top

Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced 19 finalists, including Kentucky, in the second phase of Race to the Top today. These states will now compete for a share of the $3.4 billion in the interview portion of the competition. 17 other states left the competition empty handed.

The finalists will be invited to send up to five people to argue their virtues before a panel of US Education Department judges in Washington during the week of August 9.

The amount of money remaining in the pot, however, will depend on which states may be selected in front of Kentucky. The list of states includes: Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. All finalists scored above 400 points on a 500-point scale. But if a few larger states are picked ahead of Kentucky the amount of remaining funds may dwindle. If Rep. David Obey's bill prevails in congress that amount could be $800 million less.

The winners will be announced in late August or early September.

Michele McNeil at Politics K-12 reckons,

...if New York, Florida, and California win and are awarded the maximum amount allowed by the Education Department's rules, they'll eat up $2.1 billion, or more than half of the remaining funds. Altogether, the states are asking for $6.2 billion, far more than the $3.4 billion that's available.