La.'s Race to Top Team Navigates Last-Minute Bump

A five-person team from Louisiana presented its case in Washington this morning to a panel of judges for why the state should land a piece of the $4 billion federal Race to the Top prize, amid claims from a state school board member that the group failed to represent the thousands of poor minority children who stand to be affected should the state prevail in the competition.

Linda Johnson, an elected member of Louisiana’s board of elementary and secondary education who has served on the panel since 1999, said in an interview Tuesday that she was angry that the delegation initially put together by Paul G. Pastorek, the state schools chief, did not include an African-American educator.

Specifically, she said the delegation should have included at least one of several African-American superintendents from Louisiana school districts that agreed to participate in the state’s Race to the Top initiatives. The majority of children enrolled in the districts that have signed on to Louisiana’s Race to the Top plan are poor...