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Hawaii was among the nine states (and the District of Columbia) a federal grant in phase two of the U.S. Department of Education’s . The Aloha State is the westernmost to have received one of the coveted education reform grants, with Ohio a geographically distant second.

The state will receive a $75 million grant over the next four years to implement the ambitious reforms it proposed. Some of the more basic reforms include finally implementing a system to track student progress beyond high school. Hawaii’s proposes a slate of new costly investments that are meant to have lasting impacts on schools, said Interim Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. After failing to even make the list of finalists in its first bid, Hawaii was ranked third out of 36 applicants in this round of the competition.

Adorned with lei at a press conference in Gov. Linda Lingle’s executive chambers Tuesday afternoon, many of the community and education leaders involved in Hawaii’s successful application congratulated one another and the public for supporting the effort.

The grant is thanks in large part to work accomplished in the first half of this year, Matayoshi said, including policies passed by the Hawaii State Board of Education and bills passed in the last legislative session.

“I’m just really excited,” Matayoshi said. “I know we have a huge job ahead of us, but let’s take a little moment to take a deep breath and celebrate, and then we’ve got to get back to work.”

Details of how and when the funds will be distributed will be worked out next month between the federal government and Hawaii department officials, she said. The distribution will probably be based on the budget attached to Hawaii’s Race to the Top application and will not replace money lost through the state’s budget shortfalls.

“This is not intended to replace our general fund budget reductions,” Matayoshi said. “In fact, our theory in applying for the money was that we would not put into the budget things that are an ongoing expense, because this money ends. This money is going to leverage reforms, but not be an ongoing source for operating expenses. We deliberately planned for things that would have a longer life and support reform even after the money is gone.”

She called the planned items “assets.” It’s a thick list:

• Early education opportunities.
• Extending the school year, potentially to a 12-month calendar.
• Implementing technology in under-performing schools to help turn around student achievement.
• Improving mentorship programs and training for new teachers.
• Evaluating student growth.
• Evaluating and holding teachers accountable for effectiveness in the classroom.

Many of the proposed initiatives require a significant upfront investment, Matayoshi pointed out. And all of them belong to a plan that education leaders hope will result in high school graduates who can enter college or careers without any remedial training. Currently, only 51 percent of high school graduates in Hawaii go on to college.

Part of the application includes plans to start collecting reams of data that don’t exist, such as statistics showing what students do — and whether they succeed — after they graduate from high school.

Acting Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe said one of the strengths in Hawaii’s application was collaboration among those in both the public and private sectors.

Even though many of the parties involved in Hawaii’s application — the governor, the teachers’ union, the Hawaii State Board of Education — spent most of the year pointing fingers over Furlough Fridays, they managed to come together on some measures.

Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chair of the Education and Housing Committee and a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, said his committee passed several measures to help bolster the state’s bid for the federal grant.

“I wasn’t involved so much in the application process, but I did support bills addressing issues like charter schools, instructional time and teacher mentoring,” he said. “And either we’ve passed laws previously or this session passed laws to help us get in a better position to be successful. Some of those things, like minimum instructional days and data collection, would have been positive for students even without Race to the Top.”

Team members worked hard to demonstrate that the community at large is supporting education reform efforts with privately-funded initiatives that aren’t mentioned in the Race to the Top application.

“Hawaii’s answer is to leverage all that we have, because we can’t go anywhere else or get other people to help us,” Nozoe said. “We make the best with what we have, and I think one of the greater things about Hawaii being a finalist, and then a winner, is the enthusiasm this is producing in the community to help our schools.”