Dear Governor:

Today I am delighted to announce the Race to the Top Phase 2 grantees. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia embraced the challenge, convened stakeholders, and developed proposals for reform. The educators, students, and families in those states are already winners because of the bold ideas, courageous commitment, and considerable efforts states have already made to compete in this historic program.

When we first announced the Race to the Top program, we said we would set a very high bar for success. We know that real and meaningful change in public education — the kind that results in dramatically better outcomes for all of our students — comes from setting the highest expectations and doing the hard work of comprehensive reform. We received many strong proposals from states all across America, and had enough funding to provide grants to ten. The following applicants will each receive Race to the Top grants to support their education reform agenda: the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

We were deeply impressed by the overall quality of the applications and by the significant improvements that many states made to their applications for Phase 2. During Phase 1, only two states scored above 440 points and received funding. In Phase 2, ten applicants scored at or above the high bar of 440, and we are able to fund all of them.

President Obama has asked Congress for $1.35 billion in funding for Fiscal Year 2011 to continue the Race to the Top competition. In the meantime, the Department is committed to doing everything it can to help all states move forward with implementing their Race to the Top plans and other bold reforms. Starting in November, we will host a series of meetings for all states to learn from each other and bring promising ideas back to their own states. We will be providing more information about these upcoming meetings in the near future. In addition, to support states in their continued reform efforts, we will be posting on the Department's Web site every application, comments and scores from peer reviewers, and videos of the finalists' presentations.

To the winners, I congratulate you. To others who applied, I salute you for your hard work, and I encourage you to continue your reform efforts. I look forward to continuing to work with all states in support of your efforts on behalf of educators, students, and families across the country.