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Just three months ago, we saw a barrage of criticism and comments against the release of preliminary plans for the most eagerly awaited and competitive education grant program by the Obama administration. Recent release of the same program with a lot of interesting flexibility has drawn a lot of praise and appreciation from national teacher’s union leaders as well as state governors who were part of the initial criticism.

Interesting though the program is with its reward option for States that are bold enough to take revolutionary initiatives in their educational institutions; it is still packed with politically volatile elements. Bold initiative examples emphasized by President Obama include sacking even thousands of staffs in local schools that are unable to perform and evaluating teachers and merit pay systems with the help of standardized test scores.

According to Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the policy retains all the demanding and comprehensive rules in spite of the stiff opposition, comments and reactions. He said that nothing was being changed or backed off as they are seeking reforms.

Applications are sought from States for the first round of grant competitions by mid-January, while the second round applications will have to come in by June. Educational institutions must list out in detail all strategies in place for a significant change. All proposals must necessarily accompany support statements and recommendations from local school district leaders. In states like California, this may number more than 1000.

Many states are finding it hugely cumbersome to complete the paperwork as a pre-requisite for applying for the grant. State’s submissions will be effectively judged with the help of a set of new rules including a different scoring system which will be used by the independent reviewers.

500 points will be awarded for perfect applications out of which 125 points will be for the plan laid out for change, 70 points for integrating higher quality tests and higher standards, 47 points for tracking the academic progress of students with the help of computerized systems,  138 points for recruitment of high quality teachers, 50 points for revamping failing system, 30 points for miscellaneous changes and 40 points for aiding in the development and growth of charter schools. There was a lot of criticism over the emphasis on charter schools.

The final rules still focuses on charter schools but has added in the flexibility of considering public schools that are innovative recommended by the states. Looks like the Obama administration worked overnight in finding the right balance pleasing a majority. Most of the critics are now pleased with the final rules which emphasizes on improving teacher quality, improving instruction and student growth.

States that are larger in size such as Texas, New York, Florida and California are urged by the new rules to outline larger budgets in the range of $350 to $700 million. Smaller states with lesser student population are urged to outline budgets between $20 and $75 million.