Oklahoma and West Virginia Left Out of Education Grants 'Lottery'

The U.S. Department of Education has $400 million in grant funds available to what will be 20 or so finalists from around the nation to improve education in innovative and ambitious ways. Neither Oklahoma nor West Virginia will be seeing any of those grant dollars.

Race to the Top Grant Program

Race to the Top grants first became available in 2009, through an initiative spearheaded by President Obama to improve academic standards throughout the country. A total of $4.35 billion of federal government funds were allocated for this program. In his speech announcing the new program, Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan emphasized that states applying for grant funds will need to show plans to meet four core, interconnected educational reforms.

One of the major premises behind the Race to the Top program is that academic standards should be high -- as high as in competing nations -- prepare students for college or a career after completing high school, and the high standards need to be applied through all American school systems. An education in a small community in Oklahoma should provide the same quality education that major school systems in wealthy suburbs provide.

Six Oklahoma School Systems, Eight West Virginia School Systems Sent Applications

For the first three years of the Race to the Top program, it was states who applied for grant money. This year's program differs in that separate school districts rather than entire states sent in applications for the grants.

In Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Lawton, Purcell and partner Noble, and Western Heights Public Schools were among the applicants, reported NewsOK.com . Oklahoma has never been a finalist in the four years the grant program has been in existence.

West Virginia had eight applications sent in from around the state, reported the Associated Press . In 2009 and 2011, the state did receive grant money from Race to the Top, but did not finish as a finalist in 2010.

Reaction to News by Oklahoma Officials

Tricia Pemberton, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Education Department, and Gov. Mary Fallin both indicated little surprise that Oklahoma did not even make the first cut of semifinalist applications; both lay the blame on the Obama administration.

Jackie Mania, coordinator of the Race to the Top grant application and innovative programs coordinator for Oklahoma City district schools, explained that the competition for the grant funds was stiff. Mania also explained that through the process of completing the application, the district identified further needs and plans for the school system and indicated that the district would continue to look for ways to gain additional funding to take the system to an improved level.

Bottom Line

There may be more to the story of Oklahoma having never received any grant money from the Race to the Top program than sour political grapes and officials would do well to look into concrete data and facts about the Oklahoma school system as a whole before casting aspersions.

Per the National Education Association's national report , "Rankings & Estimates," Oklahoma ranked 48th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in money spent per student. As the NEA noted, states still bear the bulk of the burden in funding for public schools. If education is really a priority in Oklahoma, then it's time for the funding to follow.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-west-virginia-left-education-grants-lottery-223900067--finance.html

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