November 15, 2009 09:02 PM UTC

"Peanut Butter" (and Jelly?)

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• by: Meiner49er

Escaping the bottom quintile in state education funding just got a lot harder for Colorado kids.

Despite the efforts of Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien over the last few months to corral some of the coveted $4 billion in “Race to the Top” funds offered by the Department of Education, and despite the fact that some see Colorado at the “head of the class” in this competition

http://www.edweek.org/ew/artic…

the Department of Education’s decision this week to “spread” the funds around by population amounts to a several hundred million dollar slap in the face to our state.

http://www.ednewscolorado.org/…

That’s the “peanut butter.”

New York and other “top tier” states are now smug in the security that they won’t need to do anything to compete other than submit a cover letter.  Assets Colorado thought it could count on now count for less, and as a result, at best if successful, the state might get $175 million for all its hard work.  That’s about a 2% bump.

The decision to compete, and to compete hard, for several hundred million more was made here in Colorado by state government officials who saw an opportunity and went after it.  Now that someone in Washington has changed the rules, what should our state representatives and Senators be doing to keep us in the Race?  

Will Colorado representatives stand up for all that hard work on behalf of Colorado kids, or will the federal “peanut buttering” be met only with spineless “jelly?”