RANDOLPH – Vermont’s hopes to cash in on some $500 million in federal monies for early education were dashed Friday when the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services rejected the state’s application.
Education Commission Armando Vilaseca announced that the state had not been chosen at Tuesday’s Vermont Education Board meeting at Randolph Union High School.
Vermont was one of 35 states that applied for the funding under the Race to the Top-Early Education Challenge and was ranked one of the nine top contenders by Early Ed Watch, a national blog.
Vilaseca said he has not had time to review why Vermont’s application was rejected but the state will look at feedback and see if there a chance to reapply for further funding. He said there might be a second round and officials will review what the criteria were that Vermont fell short on.
The White House announced that nine states—California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington—will receive the grants. According to a press release, The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge will support the work of the nine state grantees to develop new approaches to raising the bar across early learning centers and to close the school readiness gap. Awards will invest in grantees’ work to build statewide systems of high-quality early learning and development programs, as well as innovating with new reforms, the release said.
Grant awards will range from $50-100 million, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
To learn more about the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge.
