Earlier secretaries of education can only envy Arne Duncan, the current holder of that post.

Under the department's "Race to the Top" competition, Duncan has a $5 billion discretionary fund to reward school districts that implement reforms espoused by the Obama administration. Schools districts that do not, lose out.

President Barack Obama was refreshingly candid about using the money to advance his education agenda.

Specifically, the administration wants more charter schools and more students in them; performance pay for teachers; systems that track an individual student's performance under specific teachers and a move toward common national academic standards.

Race to the Top has worthy goals, and the Obama administration deserves some credit for pushing them in the face of opposition from a loyal Democratic constituency, the teachers unions.

The Department of Education will begin awarding the money early next year. Let's hope this effort is more successful than the long line of ambitious reform efforts that have sputtered in the vast labyrinth of our nation's education system.

— The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel