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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Duncan to 'i3' Losers: Don't Complain, Demand More Money - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan to 'i3' Losers: Don't Complain, Demand More Money - Politics K-12 - Education Week


Duncan to 'i3' Losers: Don't Complain, Demand More Money

Today is the deadline for districts, schools, and nonprofits to apply for Investing in Innovation grants, and when U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the NewSchools Venture Fund Summit at noon, already 800 had flooded in.
More than 2,000 are expected by today's 4:30 p.m. deadline. (A quick side-note: The department has extended the i3 deadline to April 30 for applicants who were affected by the massive flooding in Tennessee earlier this month.)
With a mere $650 million available (which pales next to the $4 billion available for Race to the Top), it's fair to say tens of hundreds of applicants will go home empty-handed.
And Secretary Duncan, who is trying to convince Congress to extend the i3 competition as part of the department's fiscal 2011 budget, has a message for losers:
"I need you not to scream about the process" and the scoring system, Duncan told about 600 in attendance at