States Vie For Second-Round 'Race' Funding

Gov. Deval Patrick is part of a five-person team in Washington DC Tuesday for a 90-minute interview with federal education officials that could determine whether the commonwealth gets up to $250 million in federal education funding.

It's the final step in the second round of the "Race to the Top" competition between states for the federal dollars. To bolster its chances, the state has made several reforms in the past year, including more charter schools and broad authority for administrators of under-performing schools to re-vamp the staffs.

Now, over the objections of some of the architects of the MCAS system, Massachusetts has adopted national math and reading assessment standards.

But Massachusetts is not the only state willing to put in changes just for a shot at the money. It's one of 19 finalists out of 35 applications for the second round of the competition.

Brenda Welburn, the executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education, joined WBUR Tuesday morning to talk about the contest.