Staff and Wire Reports
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana has missed out in the first round of the U.S. Department of Education's "Race to the Top" competition, which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform grants.
The agency on Thursday named 16 states as finalists in the first round of funding but they did not include Indiana. Winners will be chosen in April. Forty states had applied in the first round. A second round of applications will be accepted in June.
State schools Superintendent Tony Bennett says he's eager to hear from a review team on where Indiana's proposal fell short. Bennett says his agency's Fast Forward plan sets the state's education direction for the next three years.
Anderson Community Schools was one of a handful of public school corporations that did not submit a proposal to be included in Indiana’s application for Race to the Top funds. According to the state Department of Education, fewer than 25 of more than 300 public school corporations did not participate.
