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Education Funding

Race to the Top District Competition Nets 371 Applicants

By Michele McNeil — November 14, 2012 1 min read
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The U.S. Department of Education received about 371 applications, which represent 1,189 school districts, for its $400 million Race to the Top district competition.

The deadline for the competition, which was delayed because of Hurricane Sandy, was earlier this month. The department will award the money by the end of the calendar year and is expecting to name between 15 and 25 winners.

The applications come from 42 states plus the District of Columbia, with California and Texas—of course, because of their size—producing 170 applicants between the two of them.

Many districts ran into a lot of trouble seeking the necessary support to submit their applications, since backing of the teachers’ union (if there is one in a district) is an eligibility requirement. (Districts may submit anything they want, as Los Angeles Unified has done, but whether it will be deemed “eligible” to compete by the department is a whole ‘nother story.)

Districts were charged with pitching proposals that would jump-start individualized learning efforts for teaching and learning.

See the complete list of who applied.

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