Iowa, Neb. school plans left behind

Education officials in Iowa and Nebraska are looking for silver linings after their states were cut from the Race to the Top competition.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia were named Tuesday as finalists in the second round of the competition for $3.4 billion in federal grants — neither Nebraska nor Iowa made the cut.

Officials in both states say the competition helped them refine their education reform plans, but paying for those plans will be harder now.

Iowa, which hoped to win $175 million, has developed a “bold plan” for the future of Iowa education, said Kevin Fangman, acting director of the Iowa Department of Education.

“It is now time for us to look at the resources and partnerships we already have in place to move forward,” Fangman said in a written statement.

Kandy Imes, chairwoman of the Nebraska Board of Education, said she wasn’t surprised at Nebraska’s early exit. Nebraska had a lot of ground to make up after finishing third-to-last in the first round of the federal grant competition.

“We knew it was a long shot when we went in,” Imes said. “We were taking it, as much as we could, as an opportunity to firm up plans, as a state, on the direction we’re taking,” she said.

Nebraska missed out on $74.8 million.

Nebraska officials had intended to use the money for a virtual school envisioned to provide top-notch instruction to districts anywhere in the state. Money was also to go for improvements to the state’s school data system to allow for tracking individual student progress from kindergarten through college.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed said federal money would have helped “prime the pump” for reforms.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the finalists Tuesday during a speech at the National Press Club.

Finalists are District of Columbia, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

Duncan said the 19 finalists had “the boldest plans,” but every state that applied will benefit from drawing up a comprehensive education agenda, Duncan said.

The federal government has other ways of helping states pay for those plans, he said.

Duncan said 10 or 15 of the finalists are likely to win funding. Winners will be announced in September.

Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia applied for the money, which the Obama administration dangled before the states to entice them to pursue President Barack Obama’s education agenda.

After finishing out of the money in the first round last spring, Nebraska and Iowa both revised their applications in the hope of scoring better in the second round.

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver released a statement expressing disappointment that Iowa was scratched.

Culver said Iowa submitted an excellent application and plan for education changes.

“We competed vigorously by bringing together school districts small and large across this state in pursuit of funding that would have a dramatic effect on Iowa’s underachieving schools,” he said.

He said he and the Iowa Board of Education would continue to pursue ideas that improve student and teacher performance, and offer innovative ways to deliver services in Iowa schools.

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, criticized Culver and legislative Democrats, saying the state’s application “failed to meet the essential guidelines laid out by the Obama administration.”

McKinley said Senate Republicans attempted to improve Iowa’s chances by advancing key areas regarding pay for performance, student achievement and charter schools “but Culver and his allies chose to listen to their union bosses and instead ignore the needs of our students.”

Contact the writer:

444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com

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