New York State beats out 26 other states for federal education money

Announced today: The awarding of $3.4 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked for education -- a.k.a. "Race To The Top" funding -- to nine states and the District of Columbia. Including New York

In the first round, New York placed 15th out of 16 finalist states. But in the months since, Gov. David Patterson, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Legislature worked together to build a stronger educational blueprint.

New York State has won as much as $700 million, federal officials said Tuesday. The money comes after months of wrangling in the State Legislature and fights with the state and city teachers’ unions.

New York and the other winners were selected from among an application pool of 35 states and the District of Columbia. Among the reforms New York State undertook in hopes of summoning the Federal Money Fairy: Raising the statewide cap on charter schools.

New York legislators recently approved raising the charter school cap in the state from 200 to 460 after losing out on an earlier round of Race to the Top funds this spring in hopes of beefing up their application this go-round.

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