Race to the Top district applications continue to be an unlikely casualty of the federal government shutdown. Bids for the second round of the competition can’t be emailed—they have to be delivered through snail mail.
And they’re due today, at 4:30 p.m. shutdown or no shutdown, per the U.S. Department of Education’s website. But, as of early as this morning, applicants were still having problems getting their materials delivered, despite multiple tries through national carriers.
In response, the U.S. Department of Education sent out the following message today, according to Cameron French, a spokesman:
The Department of Education has received some questions about the status of mail deliveries of applications today as it pertains to Fiscal Year 2013 Race to The Top-District competition. Please note, deliveries of applications were made on October 2, 2013 by United Parcel Service (UPS), FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service. We advise anyone with questions or concerns about the delivery status of your particular application to consult the tracking information provided by your carrier. We appreciate your patience during this partial federal government shutdown and remind all applicants that the deadline for the Race to the Top-District Competition remains 4:30:00 PM Washington D.C. time on October 3, 2013."