Hawaii will get $75 million in the second round of the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" school reform grant competition.
The state is among nine states and the District of Columbia selected for the grants.
In a conference call with reporters this morning, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Hawaii made big improvements in its Race to the Top application from round one and has shown its commitment to education by ending teacher furloughs.
"Despite the furlough days, Hawaii has a real chance to take student achievement to a different level," he said. "Hawaii absolutely put its best foot forward."
Last year, Duncan criticized the 17 teacher furlough days that gave Hawaii the shortest instructional calendar in the nation.
In a statement, Hawaii schools superintendent said, "Race to the Top has served as a rallying call to boldly transform public education and schools across our nation. Today, the federal government invested $75 million in Hawaii over the next four years and secured its investment with the unwavering commitment of our educators and stakeholders to execute Hawaii's blueprint for education reform."
Hawaii's Race to the Top application includes plans to turn around poor-performing schools, improve teacher effectiveness, better prepare high school graduates for colleges or careers and make other sweeping reforms.
In addition to Hawaii, the other winners are Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
The grant amounts, based on state population, range from $75 million to $700 million.
The Race to the Top competition has instigated a wave of reforms across the country, as states passed new teacher accountability policies and lifted caps on charter schools to boost their chances of winning.
The aim of the historic program, part of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan, is to reward ambitious changes to improve schools and close the achievement gap.
Tennessee and Delaware were named winners in the first round of the competition in March, sharing $600 million. The applicants named winners Tuesday will share a remaining $3.4 billion.