MARIETTA - While 26 of Georgia's school districts will be getting $400 million to share from the second round of President Barack Obama's Race to the Top dollars, Cobb and Marietta schools are not among them.

In fact, Marietta City Schools was never eligible for the federal funds, intended to support new approaches to improve schools, because they do not meet the criteria of "low performing" set by federal education officials. To be eligible for RTTT money, a school system must have an overall graduation rate below 60 percent, and Marietta High School has a graduation rate of 83.7 percent. Eligibility for lower grades is based on achieving adequate yearly progress based on the state's Criterion Referenced Competency Tests, and Dr. Debra Pickett, Marietta's assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, explained to the Marietta board in January that the system did not have "what are considered to be failing schools."

Although Marietta was not eligible for the federal funding, Marietta High School Principal Leigh Colburn was one of five team leaders involved in writing Georgia's application for the RTTT funds. Colburn said she worked with the Office of Student Achievement last fall and served as the team leader of the supporting low achieving schools task force.

Colburn called the Race to the Top program ambitious, "with a potential for unprecedented impact for Georgia's schools."

"Georgia's lowest-performing schools targeted for intervention have the opportunity to receive substantial financial support in exchange for a high level of accountability," she said via email on Tuesday. "Other components of the Race to the Top grant touched upon topics such as school leader and teacher effectiveness, the collection and use of student data, performance based pay, enhancing standards and assessment, and charter schools. I believe these components of the grant could have the most direct impact upon our local schools in Cobb and Marietta."

Georgia, along with eight other states and the District of Columbia, was chosen as a winner for the federal RTTT funds on Tuesday. In the first round, awarded in the spring, only two states - Tennessee and Delaware - won the funding. Georgia came in third in the first round. The state then reapplied for round two and was named a finalist in July for that round of RTTT money.

While Cobb schools were eligible for RTTT funding, school board members made it clear they were not interested in applying for the grant, although it is unclear when and if the board spoke about it in public.

In early January, Superintendent Fred Sanderson advised the board against participating in Race to the Top.

"As of right now, given the ambiguity of the grant's application and the long-term consequences a commitment of this degree may have on our district, my recommendation is to not submit a (memo of understanding) to the state for the Race to the Top grant," Sanderson wrote to board members in a Jan. 4 memo.

And during a March editorial board interview at the Journal, board Chairwoman Lynnda Crowder-Eagle insisted that the board did discuss whether the district should apply for Race To The Top, although she did not specify when.

"It was brought up, it was on the agenda, I know at least one time, and we did discuss it," Crowder-Eagle said at that time. "I didn't see a lot of interest from it coming out."

An analysis of the board's meeting agendas from November 2009 until March 2010 show no indication that RTTT was ever discussed. Applications were open in November 2009 for local school districts to apply to the state Department of Education to be included in RTTT.

When asked for the positives and negatives to applying for the federal dollars, Crowder-Eagle said she worried about loss of local control over the school system.

"Positives, money and money," the Cobb board chairwoman said. "Negatives: there are a lot of parameters to this. Perhaps a loss of local control."

The Cobb board's vice-chair Holli Cash agreed with Crowder-Eagle, as did board member-elect Kathleen Angelucci, who will take over Dr. John Abraham's north Cobb Post 6 seat in January, and Scott Sweeney, the Republican candidate vying for Dr. John Crooks' Post 6 east Cobb seat against Democrat Dr. Rick Welkis.

In response to a candidate survey for the primary election in July, Cash, a Democrat who is seeking reelection in November, said: "No! The money comes with too many strings attached and will cost the District more in the long run."

Tim Stultz, the Republican candidate running against Cash said Tuesday that he was also happy that Cobb chose not to apply for RTTT funds.

"I do think it's a good thing that Cobb didn't go for it," Stultz said. "Because I think it gives more control away from the local district."

In the same candidate questionnaire, Angelucci said: "It would be foolish for us to commit ourselves to unknown terms and conditions. We would also sacrifice local control and decisions for government mandates that we would eventually have to fund ourselves. The cost to modify text books and instructional materials to comply with the federal government's vision for public education could cost Georgian's millions of dollars that we do not have."

Sweeney also worried about the loss of local control.

"No. With federal dollars, you know there are long, strong strings attached and at what cost," Sweeney said. "You give up what makes this community so special; local control. ... We have the capacity and the intelligence to do what it takes to improve student achievement while reducing federal government interference. Besides, local control isn't the only expense. Federal programs are usually proven to be very inefficient. The costs for Race To The Top funds from a dollar, resource, administrative and time perspective are likely to outweigh the proposed program cost benefits."

Dr. Rick Welkis, the Democrat running for the Post 6 seat, said "I'm for it, have always been for it, and it's ashame we didn't throw our hat in."