State is "Race To The Top" Finalist

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 4, 2010 8:40PM

The State of Illinois is one of 16 finalists for $500 million in education funding. The money, per the Tribune, is meant "to transform how teachers are evaluated, students are tested and failing schools are fixed," is part of $4.35 billion being dispersed via the U.S. Department of Education's "Raced to the Top" fund. This is the first round of funding to go out. Besides Illinois, the other finalists are: Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Winners will be announced in April and another round of funding will get underway this summer. With former CPS chief Arne Duncan behind the whole thing, we like our chances of coming away with some cash. But we can't help but remain skeptical of the high likelihood little of the money will actually be successfully put to any real use.