S.C. again fails to win schools aid

South Carolina will continue working on initiatives to improve its schools, but losing out a second time in a competition for millions of dollars in federal aid means some of those programs won't move as quickly.

The Palmetto State was one of 19 finalists in the second round of the national Race to the Top grant competition, but it wasn't one of the 10 winners announced Tuesday.

"We're disappointed and somewhat surprised," said state Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. "We really did feel like we had a very good chance to be chosen."

The program is part of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus and is designed to reward states for innovative reforms to improve struggling schools, close the achievement gap and boost graduation rates.

The 10 winning applications were from the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

Two other states, Delaware and Tennessee, won during the first round of competition. All of those states will share $4.35 billion in federal funding for education.

Rex said the $175 million the state applied for would have been used to accelerate initiatives already under way.

Some of those were: creating a system to measure how much students advance in one year and evaluating teachers on that progress; implementing the newly approved common-core standards in reading and math; and providing more intensive help to the schools that feed the state's neediest middle and high schools.

The state will continue working on those areas, but it will be at a more deliberate pace, said Betsy Carpentier, a state deputy superintendent who oversaw South Carolina's application.

Across the country, legislators passed new accountability policies and lifted caps on charter schools to boost their chances of winning.

During Rex's tenure, South Carolina has become a national leader in public single-gender and Montessori classes. And enrollment in charter schools has doubled in the last two years, with more than 12,000 students in 45 schools.

South Carolina's final application score from the second phase ranked 14th of the 36 applicants, and it finished sixth after the first phase.

States' applications were scored on a 500-point scale based on their current programs and their plans to improve teacher effectiveness, data systems, academic standards and low-performing schools. State officials received the state's score Tuesday afternoon and hadn't had time to see where it lost points and how it could have been stronger.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement he's hopeful there will be a third phase of the competition, and he's requested $1.35 billion in next year's budget.

"In the meantime, we will partner with each and every state that applied to help them find ways to carry out the bold reforms they've proposed in their applications," he said.

A new superintendent and governor will be in office by that time, and Rex said he hoped they would seriously consider reapplying.

"South Carolina is a strong contender when it decides to compete," he said.

The state recently missed out on another pool of federal education money, aimed at preventing teacher layoffs, that was contained in a jobs bill. South Carolina was ruled ineligible for the $143 million set aside for the state because of a wording change by Congress tying the money to state spending on K-12 and higher education. Legislators had cut public colleges by too much.

Rex said Congress must change the law for South Carolina to receive the money.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.