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States Report Too Little on How They've Spent Stimulus Money on Education

The U.S. Government Accountability Office recognizes that it's really hard for states to report all of the information on how educational institutions are spending their money from the stimulus package -- more than $70-billion for schools and colleges. But they should be giving more detail than they are, the GAO recommended in a report released today. "While most states cannot provide information on how each subrecipient is using its funds, providing more information ... could help the public gain a better understanding of how the funds are being used," the watchdog agency concluded. From The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Results in National School-Reform Contest Spark Complaints

While celebrations were breaking out in Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Florida, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio after the 10 were named winners of round two of the Obama administration’s national education-reform competition, Race to the Top, controversy was mounting over some of the more surprising winners and losers. From Newsweek.

Did Race help or hurt the push for a common curriculum?

Nine states and the District of Columbia were awarded stimulus-funded education grants Tuesday, ending an interstate competition called “Race to the Top.” The grants, totaling $4.3 billion, rewarded states for implementing reforms advocated by the Obama administration.

Nowhere was the competition among states more fierce than in their efforts to adopt a common academic curriculum known as the “Common Core” standards. So far, 36 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the new standards. Many of them seemed motivated by the possibility that doing so would help their applications for the Race to the Top money. By David Harrison, Stateline.org.

Florida wins $700 million in 'Race to Top' education grants

What will the Miami-Dade and Broward districts do with the more than $100 million expected to flow into South Florida schools over the next four years?

They'll start with new strategies to recruit, retain and reward effective teachers. They'll work to close the achievement gap and make sure more South Florida students go on to college.

On Tuesday, Florida was named one of the big winners in the federal government's second round of the Race to the Top competition, landing $700 million for its public schools. The Miami-Dade district expects its share of the winnings to exceed $60 million. Broward stands to get about $45 million. By Kathleen McGrory of The Miami Herald.

After Aid Win, Now Hard Part

New York's win of nearly $700 million in federal education funds came three months after bruising negotiations in Albany that culminated in an 11th-hour agreement. Now, a much tougher battle begins.

New York's application to the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top competition was essentially a promise of what it would do if it won the money. Those pledges involve sweeping reform to the public education system of policies and problems that have remained intractable for decades.

"We know that the hard work is ahead of us," said Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents. By Barbara Martinez of The Wall Street Journal.

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