A handful of states stand to win significant federal funding to revamp schools and impose strict testing standards under an Obama administration effort to alter educational practices across the country.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to release final rules Thursday that states must follow to vie for $4.35 billion in education grants, one of the most significant competitions within the $787 billion stimulus package and the largest pot of federal discretionary funding ever for local schools
The program, called Race to the Top, comes as states are struggling to fill huge school budget gaps, which some estimates say could top $20 billion by 2011.
Money will flow only to those states, potentially fewer than 15, that put forward the most aggressive proposals.
Budget guidelines finalized this week show that if they are chosen, four states -- California, Texas, New York and Florida -- could get as much as $700 million each.
Seventeen smaller states, including Illinois, North Carolina and Maryland, stand to win between $150 million and $400 million, if they are picked. The smallest states would get much less.
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