Obama to Seek $1.35 Billion Race to Top Expansion

Obama to Seek $1.35 Billion Race to Top Expansion
By Michele McNeil

President Barack Obama will seek an additional $1.35 billion in next year’s budget to expand the Race to the Top competition, paving the way for the popular economic-stimulus grant program to become a permanent part of the administration’s education arsenal.

In its fiscal 2011 budget request, the Obama administration also will spell out that it wants to open up Race to the Top—which is now a competition among states—to school districts as well. Districts would have their own grant contest and would not have to compete against states, according to senior administration officials.

Mr. Obama is to make the announcement at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va., today, which is the deadline for the first round of the Race to the Top competition. More than 30 states are expected to apply by the 4:30 p.m. deadline. Second-round applications, which can include those from states that lose in the first round, will be due in June.

The competition has sparked a flurry of legislative activity in states trying to position themselves for a slice of $4 billion in one-time grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in February.

Details Uncertain

As for the second iteration of Race to the Top, many details are unclear, such as how much of the $1.35 billion would go for the state competition, and how much for school districts. However, administration officials indicated that such details would be shaped by how many winners and losers emerge from the first two rounds of Race to the Top, and how competitive the applications in those rounds were.

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http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/19/19rttt-budget.h29.html?tkn=PNOFY8mzYWtxfxJDXTGYEPk0p67PhDWt%2BJec&print=1

More here - http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announce-plans-race-top-expansion

... for the dismantling of teacher's unions, ending teacher tenure, more high stakes testing/tracking (of teachers and students), and the creation of more publicly-funded private schools, aka 'charter schools'.

Not good news from this administration at all.