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Monday, August 13, 2012

The Educated Reporter: Race To The Top: School Districts Will Compete For $400 Million

The Educated Reporter: Race To The Top: School Districts Will Compete For $400 Million:


Race To The Top: School Districts Will Compete For $400 Million

The U.S. Department of Education sent out a rare Sunday press release yesterday to announce the next phase of the Race To The Top Grant program is underway, with individual school districts now able to apply directly for a share of $400 million in federal grants.

As the Politics K-12 blog reports, the rules have been heavily revised since the draft was first put out for public comment back in May, and more than 475 comments were received. I was particularly interested to note the provision requiring districts to have a mechanism in place for evaluating school board members has been scrapped. In a way that's not surprising, given the vocal opposition by the individuals who would have faced a new level of public scrutiny. According to Politics K-12 blogger Michele McNeil, the Education Department still believes performance evaluations for school board members are a good idea but "they don't think this contest is