Georgia narrowly missed receiving a cut of federal Race to the Top money, officials announced Monday.
Tennessee and Delaware were the only states out of 16 finalists to win any of the $4.35 billion. Georgia came in third.
Georgia Association of Educators President Jeff Hubbard said the lack of "front-line" voices hurt the Peach State's chances.
"It is (the association's) opinion that the failure to include the voices of the individuals responsible for improving our schools in Phase 1 hurt Georgia's application," Mr. Hubbard said in a statement. "If Georgia does decide to participate in Phase 2, it is our hope that Gov. Perdue will this time include the voices from the front-line educators."
RACE TO THE TOP WINNERSScores out of 500 points:* Delaware: 454.6* Tennessee: 444.2* Georgia: 433.6* Florida: 431.4* Illinois: 423.8* South Carolina: 423.2* Pennsylvania: 420* Rhode Island: 419* Kentucky: 418.8* Ohio: 418.6* Louisiana: 418.2* North Carolina: 414* Massachusetts: 411.4* Colorado: 409.6* New York: 408.6* Washington, D.C.: 402.4Source: U.S. Department of Education
Race to the Top is a federal competition designed to reward states for education reform. The $4.35 billion fund, part of President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was announced about a year ago.
After sifting through 40 applications, the U.S. Department of Education narrowed the finalists down to 15 states and the District of Columbia. Tennessee won $500 million and Delaware won $100 million in phase one of the competition, but Mr. Duncan encouraged all losing states to reapply by June 1 for Phase 2.
Mr. Duncan said he would choose 10 and 15 winners that would receive a portion of the remaining $3.4 billion.
Although Georgia ranked just below Tennessee in the final scores, Mr. Duncan said Monday that does not give the state an advantage in phase two.
"Georgia had a very competitive application, but they don't have a leg up for the new competition," Mr. Duncan told the Times Free Press. "They obviously can build on their strong work."
Unlike Tennessee, which had cooperation from all 136 school districts, only 23 of Georgia's 180 school districts - none of them in North Georgia - signed on to participate.
Mr. Duncan said having 100 percent participation definitely strengthened the winning applications.
Gov. Perdue promised Mr. Duncan he would reapply for the second round this summer.
"We were hoping to be among the Final Four in the Race to the Top competition, but unfortunately this time only two winners were chosen," Gov. Perdue said Monday in a statement. "I spoke with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this morning, and he complimented Georgia on our strong application and commitment to education reform."
Gov. Perdue said Georgia "will be tough to beat in the second round of awards that will be announced this fall. The department will provide us valuable feedback on our application, and I am confident that we are a top seed heading into round two," he said.
Staff writer Ben Benton contributed to this story.
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