Miss Congeniality

Secretary Duncan is offering a consolation prize to the states that were Race to the Top finalists but didn't get the prize: $200 million.

The nine states that will compete again—using their old Race to the Top proposals in some fashion, which the U.S. Department of Education hasn't specified yet—are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina. [UPDATE (3 p.m.): Make that eight—South Carolina just said "no thanks".]

States will have to decide on and work with the DoE on which part of their plans they want to implement.

UPDATE: It looks like the governors were caught off guard by this and some are less than pleased.