Hawaii's failure to be chosen as a finalist in the U.S. Department of Education's $4 billion “;Race to the Top”; competition came as no surprise. Education Secretary Arne Duncan had criticized Hawaii's furlough days taken from this and next school year and the state's cap on the number of charter schools. Hawaii will continue to be a long shot so long as it keeps school days to the minimum and limits charter schools.

Duncan said more than $2 billion will be distributed to “;very few”; of the 15 states and the District of Columbia named as finalists in the first round. The remainder will be up for grabs in June by states not chosen as first-round winners, but Hawaii's chances will remain thin.

Gov. Linda Lingle said the Hawaii school system will have to “;demonstrate we are serious”; about meeting criteria such as performance-based evaluations of teachers and principals and elimination of barriers to the growth of charter schools.

Hawaii's inability to make the first-round finals reflected Duncan's criticism of the state's decision to shut down public schools by 17 Fridays this academic year and again in the next school year. He publicly denounced the decision to cut the school days as “;mind-boggling.”;

Some of the choices for the 16 finalists also are perplexing. While Illinois, Louisiana and Tennessee were included in the sweet 16 after legislators raised caps on the number of charter schools and expanded the pool of students eligible to attend them, lawmakers in New York, also among the chosen few, failed to advance a similar proposal on the day its application was submitted to the Race to the Top contest.

A similar measure, supported by the Lingle administration, was given a quick death in the Hawaii Legislature after Kathryn Matayoshi, the new interim schools superintendent, testified against it.

“;The issue of equity funding is very complex and requires in-depth analysis,”; Matayoshi said, favoring instead legislation calling for a task force to complete such an analysis; that bill also failed in the current session.

Only 31 of Hawaii's 256 schools are charter schools, which are state-financed but managed by groups at arm's length from the school board and largely free from traditional school work rules.

More than 2,800 students are on the state's waiting list for admission to charter schools, some of which are free from Furlough Fridays. That is one of the reasons that the Center for Education Reform gave Hawaii a “;D”; grade for its ability to compete for Race to the Top funding.

The inexcusable Furlough Fridays had to be a major factor in Hawaii being lapped by other states in the Race to the Top. The refusal to allow expansion of charter schools seems to have been another self-inflicted fatal blow in the first round—and probably round two.