According to a post by RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist on her Facebook page minutes ago, Rhode Island was not among the first round of winners for Federal Race To The Top education funding.

Gist said, "It looks like Delaware & Tennessee are the Race to the Top Round 1 winners. Congratulations to them! Rhode Island definitely will be using the feedback we receive on our application to apply for Round 2, due in June!"

While this is clearly a disappointment, we should congratulate Gist and her team on the work they did to get RI to the finals, and wish them luck on their application for the next round.

Update: RIDE release with quotes from Board of Regents and the Commissioner.

“Though I am disappointed that Rhode Island will not receive Race to the Top Phase 1 funding, I remain hopeful that we will be highly competitive in Phase 2 of this competition,” said Robert G. Flanders, Jr., Esq., Chairman of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. “We know that our grant proposal was one of the best in the nation, and over the next few months we will make sure that our application for the next round of funding will be even stronger. I am confident that we can bring these federal funds to Rhode Island to help us transform education in our state.”

“Though I certainly hoped that Rhode Island would receive Race to the Top Phase 1 funding, we will not let today’s disappointment discourage us,” said Deborah A. Gist, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. “We were honored to be one of only 16 finalists for this highly competitive grant, and we will immediately begin working on our application for the next round of funding. I am still confident that Race to the Top funds will help us make Rhode Island schools the best in the nation and the envy of the world.”
— RIDE press release