Rex says South Carolina will enter Round 2 competition for ‘Race to the Top’ grants
April 9, 2010
COLUMBIA – April 9, 2010 – State Superintendent of Education JimRex said today that South Carolina would participate in the second round of competition for federal Race to Top grants.
South Carolina was among 41 applicants in the first round of competitionand eventually was named as one of 16 finalists. The state’s finalscores ranked sixth among those finalists, but only two winners –Delaware and Tennessee – were named as Round 1 winners.
States must apply by June 1 for Round 2, with final award announcementsin September.
Rex said the state’s Round 2 approach might be modified because thefederal government had reduced the amounts for grant awards that statescould win. South Carolina’s original application was for a $300 milliongrant, but the state’s Round 2 cap is $175 million.
“We know from our Round 1 scores – from the fact that we ranked sohighly – that we’re on the right track,” Rex said. “We know that we’reon the cutting edge of making changes that will make schools strongerand students better prepared to succeed in college and in their careers.
“Our ambitions will have to be compatible with the amount of fundingwe’re eligible to receive. That means that we’ll have to determine whatsorts of changes are needed. We’re going to spend a lot of time in thecoming weeks in talks with teachers, administrators, legislators,business leaders and the Governor’s Office.”
Rex said the team that developed South Carolina’s original 1,200-pageapplication met today to review South Carolina’s Round 1 score sheetsfrom the federal judges, look over other finalists’ evaluations andreview South Carolina’s needs, priorities and proposals for possiblebudget reductions in the Round 2 application.
The State Superintendent said South Carolina has a number of programsthat should earn it points in Round 2. Those include a statewidesystem for evaluating teachers, high academic standards for students andan initiative that links teacher effectiveness to their college almamaters. The state also has a solid data system with extensivecapabilities in terms of linking student performance to areas such ascrime, health and social services, he said.
Rex said that even if South Carolina wins a Round 2 award, the grantfunds would be directed at specific initiatives detailed in the state’sapplication and could not be used to blunt the impact of more than $700million in budget cuts to public schools over the past 19 months.
Round 1 finalists were Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, South Carolina and the Districtof Columbia. They earned the highest scores from reviewers who ratedstates’ commitments to improve teacher effectiveness, data systems,academic standards and low-performing schools.
State applications were scored on a 500-point scale, with more than halfof those points assigned to initiatives already in place. Theremaining points were given to plans for the future.
The finalists sent teams to Washington in late March to make in-personpresentations to the judges and answer detailed questions about theirgrant applications.
