Some States Wary of New Race to Top Cash

$200 million for also-rans draws mixed response, unlike early-education aid

For U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, handing out hundreds of millions in federal money isn’t as easy as it once was.

The May 25 announcement that he’ll divvy up $700 million in new Race to the Top funding between the nine states that narrowly missed out last year and a $500 million early-childhood education competition has drawn a mixed—and, in at least one case, almost hostile—response.

The pushback centers mainly on the smaller of the two pots: the $200 million that will be made available to the nine runners-up from last year in grants of $10 million to $50 million a state could use to implement some piece of its original Race...