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North Carolina is one of 15 finalists, along with the District of Columbia, to receive a cut of $4 billion for education funding, the U.S. Department of Education will announce today.

The award program, called Race to the Top, was offered last summer by President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan as part of the federal stimulus act, reports Barbara Barrett.

The grants award innovation around four areas: recruiting and developing teachers, turning around struggling schools, preparing pupils for a global economy and building computer programs to track students’ progress.

In its application filed Jan. 14, North Carolina said it outlined these goals in 2007. Among the local districts participating in the Race to the Top challenge are Wake and Mecklenburg counties. The state plans to graduate 80 percent of high school freshmen by the 2013-14 school year, and send 70 percent of its graduates to college.

Gov. Bev Perdue welcomed the news, but said the state has more work to do.

"I’ll be travelling to D.C. later this month to speak to Secretary Duncan and the selection committee and tell them why North Carolina needs – and deserves – the Race to the Top funds," she said. "Thank you to all of the educators, state and community leaders and others who have supported these efforts."

The other finalists, as reported this morning by Education Week, are Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The final awards will be announced in April. Another round of funding will come later for states who didn’t make the final cut.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who wrote a letter in support of the state’s application, praised its selection as finalist.

"Our teachers and administrators are among the best in the country, and they are 100 percent behind this Race to the Top initiative," she said in a prepared statement. "I am continuing to help push North Carolina’s effort to secure this funding."

Members of the state's Congressional delegation pumped up North Carolina's ed cred in a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, saying the state deserves a share of the billions his department will be handing out in competitive grants.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and nine U.S. House members summarized the state's application for nearly $470 million in Race to the Top funds, saying it is focused on strengthening the education workforce and improving the lowest-acheiving schools and districts. They've offered to meet with Duncan if he wants to talk about it some more. 

The scuttlebutt is that the federal Education Department will be releasing names of finalists for the first round of funding this week, with winners to be named in April. Losers will have another chance to apply for a second funding phase. 

Forty states and the District of Columbia have applied. National education writers who handicapped the race don't have North Carolina on their lists of finalists, though two writers from Education Week name North Carolina one of their "wild cards."

Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that she has asked the federal government for nearly $470 million in stimulus money for education programs for the next four years.

Perdue's office says the state's application under the federal "Race to the Top" initiative was mailed over the weekend. "Race to the Top" is a $4.5 billion competitive grant fund to help states improve education.

In an accompanying letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Perdue cited her recent announcement of what she calls "Career and College - Ready, Set, Go," an initiative to make sure every high school graduate has the tools to succeed in college or a technical training program.

"I believe North Carolina has developed an aggressive plan that holds every school accountable for every child's success," Perdue wrote to Duncan.

The superintendent of Durham's public schools will leave at the end of the calendar year to work for the U.S. Department of Education.

Carl E. Harris will serve as the federal agency's deputy assistant secretary for policy and strategic initiatives, Sadia Latifi reports.

Harris has been credited with improving student performance and calming turmoil within the system. Like Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Harris has ties to the Broad Foundation, a philanthropic organization for school reform that encourages charter programs, testing for accountability and a corporate model for school governance.

North Carolina is keen on getting a piece of the $4 billion the federal government will give states that show that they are interested in school innovations that improve education.

The grant, a program called "Race to the Top" represents "an incredible opportunity, especially in these economic times," Bill Harrison, chairman of the State Board of Education, said Monday.

About 150 people, including state Department of Public Instruction staff, academics from the universities, representatives from Gov. Beverly Perdue's office, foundations, nonprofits, professional organizations, and local school districts have done some work getting the state ready to apply for the money, Lynn Bonner reports.

With all the interest, the state board will consider changing a policy on teacher evaluations that could kick North Carolina out of the running.

The state board will talk today about altering or rescinding a policy prohibiting local school districts from using a measure of teacher effectiveness in their evaluations.
According to the grant eligibility requirements, states cannot prohibit linking information on student achievement or student growth to teacher or principals' evaluations.

Another state law, the one capping public charters at 100 schools, could hurt the state's chances.

Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan has repeatedly said that states with limits on charter schools will be at a "competitive disadvantage" when it comes to getting money.

House and Senate Republicans made raising the charter cap a priority in this year's legislative session. A bill to raise the cap stalled in the Senate.

More after the jump.

After spending the first week of his recess in Eastern North Carolina, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is heading west.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, will start his week with a Monday morning speech to a group of real estate agents in Charlotte.

He will then join Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and two members of the Obama administration - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan - for a town hall forum in Hamlet. 

Later in the week, Burr will speak to the Union County Chamber of Commerce, tour Tyco Safety Products in Monroe, speak to the N.C. Veterans Affairs Summer Conference in Asheville and visit the Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory.

Two members of the Obama administration are coming to North Carolina next week to talk about rural education and the economic stimulus plan.

The White House announced today that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will host a community forum at Richmond Community College in Hamlet on Monday.

It is the latest stop in the administration's Rural Tour.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan today started the states' competition for a share of $4.35 billion in "Race to Top" grants.

The money is meant to spur innovations and improvements in public education.
The states have been talking about the money for months, ever since the money was included in the federal stimulus bill, Lynn Bonner reports. The Gates Foundation has agreed to help North Carolina with its application.

In a webinar with district superintendents this week, state Superintendent June Atkinson said North Carolina will put together a strong application.

But the question whether the state's cap on charter schools would be an impediment lingers.

For weeks, Duncan has said that states that limit charter schools would be at a disadvantage, and he repeated that twice Friday.

States that "cap the number of charter schools or don't hold them accountable will be at a competitive disadvantage," Duncan said.

At the superintendents' webinar Thursday, Lee County superintendent Jeff Moss had asked Atkinson if North Carolina's cap of 100 schools would hurt.

Atkinson said the charter school cap is "not a deal breaker."

More after the jump.

A federal stimulus program called "Race to the Top" could mean hundreds of millions of dollars for North Carolina's cash-strapped public schools.

But the state may be hobbled at the starting gate because North Carolina's cap on the number of charter schools could work against it.

"Charters (are) a high priority for President (Barack) Obama," said Justin Hamilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education. "States that limit them put themselves at a strategic disadvantage in applying."

Under the federal stimulus program, the education department has nearly $4.4 billion in "Race to the Top" money for states that show innovation in education. Education officials call it the federal government's "largest one-time investment in K-12 public school reform."

States will be invited to submit proposals this fall. A handful will win grants early next year.

"You can bet your bottom dollar I have a team trying to get the money for North Carolina," Gov. Beverly Perdue told a Charlotte workshop on stimulus money this month.

In a conference call with reporters this month, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund."

North Carolina is one of 40 states that allow charters, and one of 26 that cap the number.

The current cap is 100, though at least two bills in the General Assembly would raise it. One measure that passed the House would put it at 106; the bill is in a Senate committee. (Char-O)

The town of Cary had almost as many governors as tidy subdivisions on Sunday and Monday.

Former N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt and his eponymous institute at N.C. State played host to 22 governors for a private summit at the upscale Umstead Luxury Hotel & Spa. The group's goal was to brainstorm on ways to maximize student achievement in the course of allocating some of the $100 billion in federal recovery money earmarked for education. Speakers included U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. 

The forum, with the exception of Duncan's speech, was closed to the press and public. Hunt Institute spokeswoman April White said the invitation-only requirement was to encourage candor and was a requirement of the event's funders: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, State Farm Companies Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

The governors, 16 Democrats and six Republicans, hailed from as far as Kansas and Oklahoma and as close as West Virginia and Kentucky and included North Carolina's Gov. Beverly Perdue.