After publicly congratulating Hawaii for what looked like a resolution between teachers and the state, federal education officials declined to comment on the deal that fell apart Thursday night.

In a surprise turn, teachers rejected a proposed six-year deal that had the unanimous backing of union leadership. (Read the complete story from Civil Beat.)

Here’s what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said two days ago in an interview with Education Week: ”I actually congratulated them publicly. But there’s still a lot of hard work to go there. But are they in a better place than they were two weeks ago? Sure.”

The U.S. Department of Education last month placed Hawaii on high-risk status for its failure to reach milestones associated with $75 million in federal education grants. The designation means Hawaii stands to lose that money.