Earlier this month Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the finalization of rules for the Race to the Top Fund. According to the administration, this competitive program seeks to awards grants to “States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform.”
After its initial unveiling in July, the Department of Education solicited feedback from stakeholders that helped inform its guidelines for the initiative. Now that the final rules have been released, states have until mid-January to enter the first round of the competition. (Note: The Department will be holding two technical assistance workshops in the next week or two, and more info on these events can be found here.)
Unlike the Department’s locally-focused i3 Fund, the Race to the Top Fund does not target schools systems or community based organizations as grant recipients. However, there still may be an opportunity here for groups interested Promise Neighborhoods.
Recently Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle announced that part of the state’s application for the competition would include provisions for “Milwaukee Children’s Zones.” This suggests that state-sponsored initiatives geared toward place-based strategies are not necessarily off limits for these applications.