On July 27, 2010, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that, out of 36 applicants, 18 states and the District of Columbia were selected as finalists in the second round of the Race to the Top (RTT) competition. The 18 states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. Secretary Duncan praised educators, elected officials and private sector leaders across the country for leading a "quiet revolution" in national education reform. Over 20 states have reportedly implemented new legislation for education reform in direct response to the RTT initiative.
The 19 finalists will visit Washington D.C. during the week of August 9 to give oral presentations to a panel of education experts before the final scoring of their respective reform proposals. Secretary Duncan anticipates awarding RTT grants to 10 to 15 of the finalists. The winners will share in the $3.4 billion remaining in the RTT fund after the awards made to Delaware and Tennessee in the first round of the competition. The winners in the second round will be announced in late August or early September 2010.
Many states will not have a chance of winning an RTT grant in 2010. However, a spending bill approved by the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on July 27th may result in renewed RTT funding for further opportunities in 2011. However, the approved amount of $675 million is considerably less than the $1.35 billion requested earlier this year by President Barack Obama.
