In his Monday budget proposal, President Obama decided against reinstating funding for Race to the Top — which was was once a centerpiece of his education agenda. All of Obama’s previous budgets, except his first, included funding for the program.
Funding for Race to the Top was eliminated in a December congressional budget agreement without much fight by the administration. By not even proposing new funds for the program, Obama appears to have given up on convincing Congress to add more funding for Race to the Top.
According to the Department of Education appendix of Obama’s budget, Race to the Top received $428 million in 2014, was appropriated $248 million for 2015, and had no proposed funds for 2016.
Race to the Top was established in the 2009 stimulus package as a way to reward states for adopting education reforms favored by the Obama administration. States were given a score determined by the administration, some of which was decided by subjective criteria.
Race to the Top was criticized for increasing federal involvement in education. Some favored the program for the billions of dollars it would send to schools. States that put artificial caps on the number of private schools in their state were punished, under the scoring formula.
The program led to new teaching evaluations, but the evaluations had some faults. In multiple states, the evaluations would rate an unbelievable 97 percent of teachers effective or better. At least one Florida county had 100 percent of teachers rated effective or better.
Research by the American Enterprise Institute showed that politics influenced the Obama administration’s scoring of states, with states of great interest to the administration receiving higher first-round scores.
