It’s an exciting week for education reform, both on the national level and here in Connecticut. Finalists for Round I of Race to the Top will be announced this week, and there’s a lot of buzz over the fact that Connecticut is unlikely to be among them. But being rejected in Round I doesn’t take Connecticut out of the Race completely—there’s still hope for Round II, and as Associated Press journalist Susan Haigh reports, Connecticut lawmakers are gearing up to pass education reforms that will significantly strengthen our chances when we resubmit our application in June.

In the article, the two co-chairmen of the Education Committee—Rep. Andy Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, and Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden—said they expect the state legislature to make the Race to the Top a priority this session and pass several reforms, including expanded access to charter schools and school choice programs. This is exciting for two reasons: these reforms will 1) boost Connecticut’s competitiveness in Round II, and 2) make our schools eligible for even more federal money.

Today in his speech to the US Chamber of Commerce, the President is expected to detail a new initiative to lower the nation’s high school dropout rate by distributing $900 million in grants to 5,000 of the nation’s lowest-performing schools. The money will be awarded to districts that actively work to either “turnaround” schools with high dropout rates or enable students to transfer to more successful schools. If Connecticut passes legislation that expands school choice and access to high-quality charter schools, districts could find it logistically easier to transfer students at low-performing schools, and thereby have higher chances of receiving federal aid.

The announcement of Round I finalists will likely be bittersweet for Connecticut: bitter in light of its initial rejection, but sweet in the hope that Connecticut leaders will pass the reforms necessary to ensure that the state ultimately gets its fair share of federal education money.