S.C. finalist for education funds

South Carolina has been named a finalist in a national competition for federal money to improve schools.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced Tuesday the 19 finalists for Race to the Top funding, saying judges selected them from a pool of 36 applicants as having the boldest plans for reform.

The other finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

"It's gratifying but not surprising," State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said in a statement. "Our performance in Round 1 was a pretty strong hint that we would be a factor in Round 2. Today's announcement validates, once again, that South Carolina is viewed as being on the cutting edge of making the changes that will make schools stronger."

After the first round of competition, only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, received money; South Carolina finished sixth. In the second round, $3.4 billion in federal funding is up for grabs, and South Carolina hopes to secure $175 million. Up to 12 states could win money.

States' applications were scored on a 500-point scale based on their current programs and future plans to improve teacher effectiveness, data systems, academic standards and low-performing schools.

Federal officials will not release those scores until winners are announced in September. Finalists will send teams to the nation's capital to make presentations in August.

If the state wins, the money would go toward specific initiatives detailed in its 1,700-page application and could not be used to soften the impact of more than $750 million in state budget cuts during the past two years.

The money would go to developing a system to measure how much students grow in one year, and evaluating teachers based on that growth. Teachers' pay and training would be based on students' progress.

The federal money also would go toward training teachers to implement the newly approved common core standards in math and reading; enhancing the use of students' test scores to improve instruction; adding pilot programs to recruit and retain teachers; and developing more alternative certification paths for principals and teachers.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.