North Carolina was awarded a $70 million federal government grant from the Department of Education’s “Run to the Top” program. The following reasons were given:
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said North Carolina had the top-ranked application among the 35 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, which competed for $500 million in federal grant money. The competition is designed to reward states that are willing to push education reform.
"It was literally the best application we received from any state in the country," Duncan said.
Duncan said he called N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue Friday morning to congratulate her on "the remarkable achievement."
In awarding the money, the education department cited the state's Early Childhood Advisory Council, local Smart Start infrastructure, as well as plans to target rural, distressed counties with high needs.
This pre-kindergarten program is big farce and waste of taxpayer monies. Let’s face it: this program is nothing more than a glorified daycare center. Is it any wonder that we’re $15 trillion in debt with waste like this? What’s worse, the states have turned into a band of beggars, while the bureaucrats pick and choose the winners. Shouldn’t the taxpayers have a say as to how that money should be spent?
With the general election around the corner, one must consider the possibility of politics coloring the landscape. Here are the following states that also received taxpayer funded grant money: Massachusetts, Ohio, California, Washington, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Delaware, and Maryland.
Notice that not one red state received a grant. And out of the nine, four can be considered battleground states. We already know that Obama considers Ohio and North Carolina important for his re-election. Massachusetts will be in play if Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination, and Minnesota republicans believe their state is fair game.
California received a grant for the following reasons:
California: This was the biggest loser among the winners. It wanted nearly $100 million (the cap the U.S. Department of Education set), but with only $500 million available and a 9th place finish, only $52 million was left for them. That's not a lot of money for a state with more than 6 million students. It's interesting that the Education Department chose not to shave a little off the other states' winnings to give California a bit more. But it's also interesting that the department gave them anything, and didn't use their $52 million to give everyone else a little more. Perhaps Education Secretary Arne Duncan wanted to send a little love California's way, especially after snatching back a data systems grant and ruling their effort to apply for a Race to the Top consolation prize inadequate. What's more, by giving California a Race to the Top grant, Duncan was able to make the claim—as he did during the White House announcement Friday—that Race to the Top money now reaches 60 percent of the nation's students and two-thirds of low-income students. Those figures would have been far less impressive had California not won.
As for the legitimacy of the other states, Delaware is Joe Biden territory, and the others who knows? But what is known, is Obama’s Chicago-style of politics, and that stench makes any government program suspect.
Source: http://www.charlotteobservert.com/2011/12/17/2855983/nc-awarded-70-million-in-federal.html#ixzz1guEbkgHH
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/12/race_to_top_early_learning_tal.html
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2011/09/rnc_chair_says.shtml
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said North Carolina had the top-ranked application among the 35 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, which competed for $500 million in federal grant money. The competition is designed to reward states that are willing to push education reform.
"It was literally the best application we received from any state in the country," Duncan said.
Duncan said he called N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue Friday morning to congratulate her on "the remarkable achievement."
In awarding the money, the education department cited the state's Early Childhood Advisory Council, local Smart Start infrastructure, as well as plans to target rural, distressed counties with high needs.
This pre-kindergarten program is big farce and waste of taxpayer monies. Let’s face it: this program is nothing more than a glorified daycare center. Is it any wonder that we’re $15 trillion in debt with waste like this? What’s worse, the states have turned into a band of beggars, while the bureaucrats pick and choose the winners. Shouldn’t the taxpayers have a say as to how that money should be spent?
With the general election around the corner, one must consider the possibility of politics coloring the landscape. Here are the following states that also received taxpayer funded grant money: Massachusetts, Ohio, California, Washington, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Delaware, and Maryland.
Notice that not one red state received a grant. And out of the nine, four can be considered battleground states. We already know that Obama considers Ohio and North Carolina important for his re-election. Massachusetts will be in play if Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination, and Minnesota republicans believe their state is fair game.
California received a grant for the following reasons:
California: This was the biggest loser among the winners. It wanted nearly $100 million (the cap the U.S. Department of Education set), but with only $500 million available and a 9th place finish, only $52 million was left for them. That's not a lot of money for a state with more than 6 million students. It's interesting that the Education Department chose not to shave a little off the other states' winnings to give California a bit more. But it's also interesting that the department gave them anything, and didn't use their $52 million to give everyone else a little more. Perhaps Education Secretary Arne Duncan wanted to send a little love California's way, especially after snatching back a data systems grant and ruling their effort to apply for a Race to the Top consolation prize inadequate. What's more, by giving California a Race to the Top grant, Duncan was able to make the claim—as he did during the White House announcement Friday—that Race to the Top money now reaches 60 percent of the nation's students and two-thirds of low-income students. Those figures would have been far less impressive had California not won.
As for the legitimacy of the other states, Delaware is Joe Biden territory, and the others who knows? But what is known, is Obama’s Chicago-style of politics, and that stench makes any government program suspect.
Source: http://www.charlotteobservert.com/2011/12/17/2855983/nc-awarded-70-million-in-federal.html#ixzz1guEbkgHH
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/12/race_to_top_early_learning_tal.html
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2011/09/rnc_chair_says.shtml
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