Published Wednesday, June 02, 2010 8:24 AM

Texas again won't try for school money

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas -- As it did once before, Texas is refusing to apply for federal "Race to the Top" education funds.

The state could be eligible for up to $700 million in this second round of funding through the U.S. Department of Education. However, Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday he doesn't want Texas to abandon state educational standards in favor of adopting national standards and the costs that go with them.

Perry says adopting national standards would cost Texas $3 billion. And, he says Texas is doing fine in college and career readiness already.

Texas didn't compete in the first round, either. The "Race to the Top" program is making billions of dollars in education grants available to states. It was created in the federal economic stimulus law.

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