Wisconsin State Journal Editorial:

To no great surprise, Wisconsin will not be one of the handful of states leading a national push to transform public education.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Wisconsin failed to survive even a preliminary round of competition for billions of dollars in federal innovation grants.
It’s a huge disappointment – especially since Obama came to Madison last fall to officially launch the nationwide effort, which he calls a “Race to the Top.”
It’s not yet clear why Wisconsin didn’t make the cut. That’s because the U.S. Department of Education hasn’t released our state’s scores and comments from the judges.
Yet Gov. Jim Doyle’s criticism Thursday of the entrenched Milwaukee School Board and reform-averse state lawmakers was dead-on. The Legislature’s failure to shake up the failing Milwaukee public school district had to hurt our state’s bid for as much as $254 million in Race to the Top funds.
At the same time, Rep. Brett Davis’ criticism of Doyle and the Democratic-run Legislature for kowtowing to the big teachers union was equally apt. The Wisconsin Education Association Council has long resisted big changes in public education, including pay for performance. And the teachers union spent more – by far – on lobbying last year than any other special interest group at the state Capitol.