Race to the Top, a promising Obama administration contest that lured New York state to apply for $803 million in federal funds to reform education, has been a disappointment for the Empire State so far.

New York's initial bid was ranked 15th by Race to the Top judges, well out of the money. The White House boldly deemed the grant program a success after awarding money last month to only two tiny states—Delaware and Tennessee—while telling other states to try again in June. Some won't bother, having invested time and resources writing proposals that, in retrospect, had no chance of being funded.

But New York will give it another go, this time with $700 million at stake. Major changes in its application are needed if it is to avoid another rejection.

The first-round failure proved right the education advocates who had warned of the application's weaknesses, which included lukewarm support from district superintendents and unions. It also demonstrated the folly of legislators who expected New York to be awarded money without enacting key reforms sought by the White House.

Two shortcomings of New York's education system stand out: a law that caps the number of charter schools statewide at 200, and a simplistic teacher-evaluation system in which instructors are graded either “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” These grades stem from classroom visits by principals, who sometimes give poor teachers passing grades and move them to other schools,where the