The Obama administration has chosen it’s finalists for the Race to the Top competition. This program comes at a time when education reform is hot topic on the news. Between rioting students in California, the mass firing in Rhode Island, and budget cuts across the nation, things are in a bit of a state, and this $4.35 billion program offers a ray of hope.

Race to the Top Finalists: D.C. and 15 States

The District of Columbia made the list of finalists along with these 15 states:

• Colorado
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Tennessee

This list is out of only 41 submitted applications (40 states and D.C.), which has brought some criticism to the competition. From the Wall Street Journal article on the subject:

The size of the finalist list drew fire from some quarters. “I was hoping the administration would send a clear message that you had to be absolutely great to even be in the competition,” said Andrew Smarick, a former George W. Bush administration official who has supported the program. “This is a huge disappointment.”

To these detractors, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said a reassuring, “Most of them will go home losers.” Estimates at this point are that fewer than six of these finalists will be chosen. How will the $4.35 billion be split between these winners? One can only hope that, were New York and, say, Rhode Island both to make the list, the amount that they’d each be given would be based on need. Something tells me that a few of these states need more than others, and that money stretches a bit further in some than it does in others. The only word we’ve got so far is that the money will be divided based on size–whether that’s square footage, population, or student body, we’ll have to wait to find out.

California Misses the List. Coincidence?

Facing a budget crisis to the tune of $20 billion, California didn’t make it on the list. Secretary Duncan and his selection team tried to keep politics out of it, and it seems that, in doing so, they’re upset even more people (people who probably would have been angry either way, mind you). From the aforementioned article:

The list of winners so far could stir unease for other reasons. Only five of the 16 finalists were states that went for Republican Sen. John McCain in the last presidential election. And only one of them, Colorado, was west of the Mississippi–a fact that Mr. Duncan said was “purely a coincidence.”