Connecticut officials were informed Thursday that their third application for federal Race to the Top funds has been rejected.
"We are bummed," said Liz Donohue, the administration's point person for the application. "We are not among the finalists."
The Malloy administration had hoped to land $50 million to implement a variety of initiatives to try to improve early education in the state. Those plans included rating some early child care programs, assessing students when they enter kindergarten, adding an additional 1,000 spots in state-funded preschools and increased education requirements of those teaching these children.
Donohue said the intention still is to move forward with these initiatives, "but not at the same pace... We will figure out how to. The governor's commitment to early education is unchanged."
Malloy was highly critical of the state's first two failed Race to the Top bids for $175 million for primary and secondary education reforms, saying the state "embarrassed ourselves" with subpar applications. Most of those reforms have since been delayed.
In a statement, Malloy called the application "strong" and plans to use the nearly 289-page application as a "road map as we move forward on education reform."
He placed blame for this failed attempt on previous administrations during a press conference Thursday.
He said because the state has failed to make the needed reforms over the last 12 years, "I think we are being punished for it... Sooner or later we are going to dig ourselves out of the hole."
Advocates have expressed concerns about the hodgepodge of state agencies coordinating the state's early childhood programs and have lobbied for a new agency. Connecticut has more 3- and 4-year olds attending preschool than any state except New Jersey, according to the College Board's annual progress report.
The state was competing against 34 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico this time around.
Allan B. Taylor, chairman of of the State Board of Education, said he is disappointed that the state failed to land fund this time around and is unsure what the next steps will be to make these initiatives a reality.
In a statement announcing the winners, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, said "all applicants showed tremendous dedication and drive to build stronger foundations and create greater opportunities for more children."
The winners include California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington.
My sense is that Connecticut has rested on its laurels of quality educatoin by living off its high performing students who hail from high socio-economic status homes. We are a wealthy state and wealth correlates strongly with achievement. As a result, the state has not felt the need to evaluate and reform its educational system as other states may have and the urban areas have suffered - hence the achievement gap.
Terry Bradshaw once commented that the Steelers of the 70s were successful despite their coach, Chuck Knoll. Ct has been successful in education despite its lack of educational
Read MorePerhaps this isn't such a bad thing. Read any article speaking to the accuracy of the statements of Barack and Arnie, such as the CATO piece released this morning outlining how the numbers they make up are just that, and perhaps we should consider CT lucky, again, to not be whoring themselves for these two. It really is all about the money, right? Of course it is. Bill Gates and his wife, the Complete Colleg America people, the Data Quality Campaign people, and all the others who don't teach our children but just talk about how
Read MoreWhat is the common denominator? Some of the same state ed department bureaucrats put much of his application together again. Amazing that the new commish trusted the holdovers from the prior administration to have any sense of ingenuity or commitment to adhering to the requriements of the grant. Heads should roll of those three or four so called managers in that agency who failed again.
How can he blame past administrations for the failure of his application? Nothing is ever his fault - not a good trait for the Governor.
"This is an investment worthy of being made."
Gov. Malloy to charter school students who had been bused to the Capitol Tuesday evening to thank him for proposing an increase in funds for charters.
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Top donors to the CT congressional delegation
1. United Technologies, $197,500
2. Sempra Energy, $133,100
3. General Electric, $121,775
4. Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, $106,510
5. Goldman Sachs, $99,500
Source: Maplight
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