I believe the Department's decision to set a low bar for RTT finalists sent precisely the wrong message. Instead of pushing states to continue making big changes to their policies and propose bigger, bolder plans in their applications, the Department's stance lowered states' sense of what is required to compete.
From the Lincoln Star Journal:
The commissioner (Roger Breed)??said he doesn't know how the fact that Nebraska doesn't authorize charter schools played into the state's chances.??At least one finalist doesn't authorize charter schools.??"So apparently it isn't a pass/fail on that basis," he said.
Nebraska might have been convinced to seriously consider charter legislation had the bar been higher. Instead, Kentucky, a charter-free state, made it to the finals, sending a clear and unfortunate signal to the rest of the nation.
I now expect none of the nation's 10 charter-free states to pass a charter law in the next six months. I'm sad to say the expansive RTT finalist list seriously attenuated the program's leverage.
UPDATE: More evidence from Alabama
Alabama Education Association spokesman David Stout, however, was not buying arguments that the state's lack of a charter school law cost it the $181 million it hoped to get from the fund.??"It's obvious that you don't have to have charter schools to be funded," Stout said.
--Andy Smarick