State Ready For Another Shot At "Race To The Top"
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Albany is hoping its second application for education funding from Washington turns out better than its first.
The deadline for the "Race to the Top" is next Tuesday, and lawmakers are negotiating over whether to raise the cap on charter schools -- a move that would improve the state's chances for the money.
In the first round of the "Race to the Top" competition, New York finished 15th out of the 16 finalists competing for a share of the $4.5 billion available.
Democratic Senate Conference Leader John Sampson says he feels New York has a much better chance to get the funding this time.
"I think we need to get it done, with respect to the last application. If there was teacher tenure and there was a raise in the cap, we still would have been third or fourth place. We still wouldn't have received the money in the first round. I think we have an excellent opportunity in this round to be number one or even two with respect to this," Sampson said.
The grant program was set up by the Obama administration to reward states for innovations in education, including widening charter school laws and enacting performance pay for teachers.