Huge news out of MN. The state is not applying in RTT round two, and the governor is blaming the legislature, which he accuses of being controlled by unions.
Michele McNeil summarizes the current status nicely here. (My take from a little while back is here.)
Yes, a growing number of states are dropping out in round two, but that's not a reason for alarm. States are realizing that they have to be serious about reform in order even stand a chance. In MN and IN, state leaders recognized that for various political reasons their applications would be too weak to compete.
That's a shame for those states, but in the long-run this can only serve to shine a spotlight on those standing in the way of reform.
The big question now is whether there will be enough good applications in round two for the administration to spend down all $3+ billion. In my opinion, there were only seven serious round one applications, so I'm not at all convinced there will be 12 good ones in round two.
So with each passing day, it looks more and more like Secretary Duncan may have to use the nuclear option (which I wrote about here), and not spend all of the money. McNeil's post includes a quote from Duncan making clear he is willing to do this if necessary.
?Andy Smarick