By Alan Lytle
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-893347.mp3
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky has missed out, for now, on tens of millions of federal dollars. Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced Delaware, and Kentucky neighbor Tennessee, as the two states that will be awarded the first round of "Race To the Top" education grants. Kentucky Department of Education spokesperson Lisa Gross says they're disappointed, but not discouraged.
"We will be reviewing our scores and the comments from our application this doesn't mean that we're going to stop work. The things that we said we were going to do in our Race To The Top application, are things that we were going to do anyway."
Kentucky was one of 16 finalists competing for a share of 4.35 billion dollars in education grants. The Commonwealth had applied for some 200 million dollars to revamp its P through 12 public education system. Gross says officials have already begun preparing for the second round of allocations. However, Phase 2 of Race to the Top limits the amount Kentucky can receive to $175 million.