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Pennsylvania, New Jersey, among Race to the Top finalists

New Jersey and Pennsylvania are finalists in the federal Race to the Top competition for grants to fund school reform, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced Tuesday.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania are finalists in the federal Race to the Top competition for grants to fund school reform, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced Tuesday.

The states were among 19 applicants - 18 states and the District of Columbia - to make it through the first cut of Round Two of the funding contest. Thirty-five states and Washington applied in this round for a share of $3.4 billion. The first-round winners, Delaware and Tennessee, were awarded a total of $600 million.

If New Jersey and Pennsylvania emerge victorious when the winners are announced in September, each could collect up to $400 million.

"Pennsylvania's finalist status in Round Two of Race to the Top is a real testament to the hard work we've already done in implementing targeted reforms that help our students to achieve and succeed," Gov. Rendell said.

Pennsylvania, which also was a first-round finalist, proposes increasing student achievement, improving professional development and teacher evaluation, and turning around failing schools - all goals of Race to the Top and the Obama administration.

New Jersey was not a finalist in the first round, placing 18th among 41 applicants. Unlike Pennsylvania's, New Jersey's round-one application had almost no union backing.

On Tuesday, Gov. Christie seized on the finalist announcement as an opportunity to say he was right to overrule compromises in the state's Round Two application that were made to win the support of the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union.

"This announcement affirms our decision to stick with real reform and not capitulate to the watered-down, failed, status-quo approach advocated by the NJEA," Christie said in a statement. He also called for moving forward the state application's proposals to provide more school choice and exhibit "fidelity to placing student success ahead of union self-interest."

Christie had insisted that measures such as merit pay and tying teacher evaluations to student performance, including test results, be included in the application. The union's position is that those are not effective reforms.

The Christie administration was critical of the union for not supporting the state's first application, saying that was partly to blame for the application's failure. With the second round, NJEA officials worked with state education personnel, including Commissioner Bret Schundler, to fashion an application the union would support. When Christie learned of the compromises, he deemed softening his positions not worth union buy-in and ordered them out.

On Tuesday, the NJEA took exception to Christie's remarks.

"It's pretty unfortunate that the only thing the governor could say is to take two shots at the NJEA rather than talk about the application," said union spokesman Steve Wollmer. "His obsession is getting tired."

Duncan said Tuesday that 10 to 15 finalists would win grants.

Michael Petrilli, an education analyst at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington think tank, has been following the Race to the Top competition closely.

He said Pennsylvania, which finished seventh in the first round, has a good shot.

"I think it would be surprising if it didn't win. . . . I wouldn't start spending the money yet, but I think the chances are pretty good," Petrilli said.

New Jersey, he said, is less likely to be a winner, but still may snag an award.

"I think it will be real close," Petrilli said.

Duncan, in comments to reporters Tuesday, said no single factor would determine an application's success or failure.

Speaking of the impact of Race to the Top, he said: "There is a growing sense that a quiet revolution is under way in our homes and schools, classrooms, and communities."

Pennsylvania and New Jersey are both among the approximately 30 states that have approved national core-curriculum standards - an action that earned points in the Race to the Top scoring process.

Race to the Top, however, does have critics, and not just teachers' unions. Some education advocates disagree with its principles. Members of the House of Representatives have sought to have its funding cut. Just this week, civil rights leaders said the program did not do enough for minority students, an assertion administration officials dispute.

The Fordham Institute's Petrilli said the competition has had an impact on the education debate, bringing sideline ideas into the mainstream. But he disagreed that it had resulted in widespread policy change, including in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

"I don't think it achieved the revolution that the Obama administration is claiming, but I think it definitely was worth doing," he said.

In August, the finalists will meet with review panels. If New Jersey wins, the state has proposed giving at least $100,000 to the individual districts that signed on to the application, according to a state education spokesman. In Round Two, 348 of the state's nearly 600 districts and 41 of 66 charter schools joined the state's application, according to state data.

Pennsylvania plans to split $200 million of the $400 million it would be eligible for among 122 of its 500 school districts and 69 of its 135 charter schools. The eligible districts and schools have agreed to revamp their educational systems in return for the money.

Philadelphia has 76 so-called turnaround schools - low-performing schools slated for makeovers. The city district would get $32 million in additional funding for those schools.

In addition to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., the other finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Carolina.