Hawaii Gets to Keep $75M “Race to the Top” Grant

By /
The Hawaii Department of Education is probably breathing a big sigh of relief. 

The U.S. Department of Education said the state has “retained” its $75 million “Race to the Top” grant following an on-site review in March.

Hawaii had been designated as “high risk” in terms of losing the grant money. In December, the public school system was scolded for failure to make significant progress in the first year of the four-year grant.

“The U.S. DOE has acknowledged Hawaii has taken steps in the right direction, and we will continue to move forward on all of our deliverables,” Hawaii DOE Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said in a statement. “A transformational change is taking place in Hawaii’s public schools. This change is focused on creating a better learning environment to boost student achievement.”

The federal government also will lift penalties June 1, allowing the Hawaii education department to spend the grant money.

What it means to support Civil Beat.

Supporting Civil Beat means you’re investing in a newsroom that can devote months to investigate corruption. It means we can cover vulnerable, overlooked communities because those stories matter. And, it means we serve you. And only you.

Donate today and help sustain the kind of journalism Hawaiʻi cannot afford to lose.

Donate

About the Author