In or out on Race to the Top?

A few Race to the Top related news items that came in today:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that new teachers in New York City will be evaluated using student test scores. While Bloomberg does have oversight of city schools, such a radical change in working conditions usually would have to go through the teachers' contract; I assume we'll be hearing more on this. Also note the interesting response and then clarification from Secretary Arne Duncan.

And Governor Rick Perry of Texas has said that Texas will not be a part of any joint standards. He argues this as a "local control" issue. The Dallas Morning News correctly notes that this does NOT disqualify Texas from Race to the Top funding in this first round (it would seem to disqualify them from the assessment round), as that assessment piece is worth only 40 of the possible 500 points. Kudos to DMN for catching this nuance; they're doing much better than the Boston Globe which continues to insist that lifting the cap on charters and other things are "required" to apply. It's more complicated than that.
No word here on whether Texas is out or in on applying; it would make a difference, as if the bigger states are contenders, the awards given after theirs would consequently be smaller (or fewer).