Applications are due to the Department of Education on Tuesday, but Missouri released its on Friday, before the Memorial Day weekend.

Instead of seeking $743 million, as it did in the first round, the state is seeking $222 million this time around; the difference is that Missouri is no longer including a request for funds to expand broadband access in the state to schools and students.

In the first round of the Race to the Top, Missouri did not make the list of finalists; it ended up averaging 301.4 out of a possible 500 from its five reviewers. Illinois, which did make the finals last time but was not one of the two winning states, released its second-round application Tuesday afternoon. In the first round, it applied for $510 million, but this time around, it cut its request to $400 million.

In a statement on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website, Missouri commissioner Chris Nicastro said it "has been a tremendous challenge to create this groundbreaking plan simultaneously as we have been grappling with the state's unfolding financial crisis."

She called the new application "leaner, more focused and stronger than the initial submission" in its emphasis on "creating practical tools and policies that will strengthen Missouri's public schools."

Specifically, she said the application outlines:

• creation of a model curriculum for pre-school through the 12th grade, as well as professional development support for teachers and administrators;
• identification of best practices in instruction, turnaround strategies and closing achievement gaps;
• developing models for evaluation of teachers that include students' performance;
• and developing strategies specific to Missouri to help improve poorly performing schools.

One area that has received a lot of attention in the Race to the Top competition is charter schools. Efforts to expand charters in Missouri beyond St. Louis and Kansas City, which are the only cities they are allowed now, failed in Jefferson City, and Nicastro has said previously that the limits on charters are likely to hurt the state in its effort to win a share of the federal money available.

In Illinois, Matt Vanover, spokesman for the state education department, said the primary difference between its round 1 and round 2 application is more specific information on how it would deal with professional development issues and an increase in the number of local school districts and unions that have signed on to support the application.

He said the first time around, the timing made it difficult to reach some districts to get their support, with the application due shortly after the first of the year, a busy time for many districts. He also said that the second-round application was able to go into greater detail on how any grant that the state wins would benefit the local districts.

"We were able to communicate a bit more clearly what was in the application itself and dileneate what would be available to all districts," Vanover said.

Only two states -- Tennessee and Delaware -- won grants in the first round of Race to the Top, with Tennessee getting $500 million and Delaware $100 million. Forty states and the District of Columbia submitted applications in round one, with 16 reaching the finals, but not all of them will be taking part in the second round. The money is part of the federal stimulus bill passed last year.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the four criteria on which states would be judged are:

• Turning around low-performing schools
• Extending education reforms using standards and assessment to make sure students are ready for college or careers
• Creating data systems to support student achievement
• Building a workforce of effective educators

After Tuesday's deadline, when 35 states and the District of Columbia had submitted second-round applications, Duncan said in a statement:

"This took a lot of hard work and political courage.  It required administrators, elected officials, union leaders, teachers, and advocates to work together and embrace a common reform agenda.  Every state that applied now has a blueprint for raising educational quality across America."

Reviewers who looked at Missouri's first-round application cited problems with the state's approach to the turnaround category, saying that state spending on schools did not provide much support for such an effort. They also questioned how strongly teachers in the state were behind the application. 

She said the second-round application also did a better job of communicating the history of school reform efforts in Missouri and how what has happened so far will pave the way for what still needs to be done.

"I think there has been some progress," Coffman said. "In the time between the submission of the round one application and working on round two, we established five work groups, and one of those was looking specifically at teacher-leader effects.

"From the beginning to where we are right now, it has helped develop our education reform plan on issues that I think are needed in the state, opening the discussions we need to have and moving the state forward."

Nicastro noted that school districts that represent 67.4 percent of Missouri students have signed what is called a memorandum of understanding indicating their support for the state's application. The list includes St. Louis and Kansas City as well as many -- but not all -- of the suburban districts in the St. Louis area.

Among those that did not sign on are Parkway and Kirkwood. Nona King, spokeswoman for Kirkwood, said administrators and representatives of teacher organizations met to discuss the application but decided against signing.

"They felt it is not clear what the expectations actually are for school districts that sign," King said.

In Parkway, spokesman Paul Tandy said the move from the first round to the second round went so quickly, the district wasn't sure what was going to be included.

"I don't know that we really feel comfortable that we know fully what is in the application as they are changing it," he said.

"I think another concern from Parkway is that we realistically don't believe that even if Missouri were going to be funded, we would benefit financially from it. We have seen that again and again. We are funded almost completely out of local funds. So are focusing our energies on our own district."