Race to the Top
Race to the Top is a federal program that gives taxpayer dollars to states that comply best with liberal goals. 4.35 billion dollars in taxpayer money is allocated through this program for states willing to sell their local control over education for a few additional bucks.
Conservative-leading Bret Schundler was fired as the New Jersey Secretary of Education by Governor Chris Christie for failing to win $400 million in federal grants supposedly due to a clerical error in the application worth a few points in the evaluation. In fact, a larger amount of points was lost for additional reasons outside of Schundler's control. [1] Told to resign, Schundler said he would prefer to be fired and was subsequently highly critical of Christie.
On September 2, 2010, $330 million in funds were awarded to two different coalitions of states for developing new tests for evaluating students.[2]
Several states, typically conservative], have declined to participate in some or all of the Race to the Top program. These states include: Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.[2]