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."

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Two of the four foundations who bankrolled a governor's conference in Cary earlier this week said they did not request that the public and press be kept out.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt's eponymous institute at UNC Chapel Hill organized the session on Sunday and Monday for governors from across the country to discuss education initiatives. All of the events, except for a Sunday speech by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, were kept private, even though they involved the governors of 22 states — 16 Democrats and six Republicans. Institute spokeswoman April White said Monday that the privacy was to encourage candor but also a requirement of the groups funding the sessions, which were held at the Umstead luxury hotel in Cary.

Officials at two of the four foundations that contributed, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the State Farm Companies Foundation, said they imposed no such requirement or request. Dome is attempting to get comments from the two other foundations involved, Atlantic Philanthropies and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundations.

UPDATE: White said today she misspoke Monday and that the closed sessions were a decision of officials at the Hunt Institute, who stated those conditions when applying for the funding. Also, an earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the institute's location, which is at UNC Chapel Hill.

Mike Easley's plugging early college on the Huffington Post.

In a column in the liberal Web site today, the former governor cites his Learn and Earn programs as models for the rest of the country.

Early college high schools in North Carolina and across the country show us that challenge — not remediation — is an approach to education that works. The opportunity to earn free college credit is a powerful invitation for every student and parent, especially during these hard economic times.

We can't afford to see college as an option or a luxury for some; it has to be our goal for all. Early college represents the kind of innovation that other states and the Federal government should look to as we work to improve dramatically the preparation of young people for the demands of skilled careers in today's economy.

Previously: Easley to promote early college for Gates Foundation.

Former Gov. Mike Easley will promote early community college programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The two-term Democrat, who left office in January, is taking a part-time post with the Seattle-based nonprofit promoting his signature Learn and Earn program.

Started in 2004, the program aims to boost college graduation rates through a combination of online classes, special high schools that offer associate degrees and scholarships.

Easley will meet with leaders of other states and do other work to promote similar programs. Neither he nor the foundation would release his salary.

It is the first job announced for Easley since he left the Executive Mansion. He worked as a district attorney and state attorney general before being elected governor in 2000.

Adam Magnus, a spokesman for Easley, said he will also promote early childhood education programs through positions that have not yet been announced.

"He will be doing other work simultaneously," he said.

As governor, Easley worked with the Gates Foundation, set up by the co-founder of Microsoft, on similar education efforts. In recent years, the foundation donated substantial money to a nonprofit Easley created to promote Learn and Earn.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt says we can take him off the list of potential education secretaries in Barack Obama's administration.

Hunt says he'll advise Obama on education, but he has no interest in going to Washington, reports Lynn Bonner.

Hunt's name has appeared on several lists of potential education secretaries, including in Time and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Hunt called Dome on his way back from a three-day stay in Seattle, where he attended a Gates Foundation meeting on education. Obama education advisors attended, including the leaders of Obama’s education advisory board.

"I just spent several days with the top Obama people," Hunt said. "Many encouraged me to do it. I told them I would not go to Washington."

Still, Hunt said he expects to work closely with the U.S. education department from his base in North Carolina.

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