The New York Times’ Sam Dillon reports some encouraging news: state education departments and teachers’ unions now are in agreement with the federal Education Department’s requirements for its “Race to the Top” grant applications. What states get a slice of the $4.3 billion education cash (an outlay from the stimulus bill) will be determined by a 500-point scale, based on how much states demonstrate an “agenda for change.” Teachers’ unions and some state governors were previously critical of how this historic amount of education money was going to be spent: they thought too much emphasis was put on charter schools. But the new rules also encourage the development of “innovative” public schools.

States have until January to apply for the first round of funding. One possible roadblock in this application: every school state district in the state must sign off on the grant. That means, for example, that the California education dept grant application must be vetted by 1,000 school superintendents.

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