The U.S. Department of Education has $400 million in grant funds available to what will be 20 or so finalists from around the nation to improve education in innovative and ambitious ways. Neither Oklahoma nor West Virginia will be seeing any of those grant dollars, says Yahoo! News. Race to the Top grants first became available in 2009, through an initiative spearheaded by President Obama to improve academic standards throughout the country. A total of $4.35 billion of federal government funds were allocated for this program. In his speech announcing the new program, Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan emphasized that states applying for grant funds will need to show plans to meet four core, interconnected educational reforms…

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