Education officials and charter school backers on Monday lashed out at teachers unions and the Legislature after New York failed to get $700 million in federal Race to the Top money.

Tennessee and Delaware scored a combined $600 million of the competitive $4.3 billion pot of education money to help turn around failing schools and implement other reforms.

New York finished 15th out of the 16 finalists.

“Race to the Top sets a high bar for states to adopt sweeping education reforms, and at least this time, New York State couldn’t clear that bar,” Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said.

New York lost 30% of its potential points because of its failure to pass charter school reform, link teacher evaluation to student performance and develop a statewide data system.

The state also lost points for not having full support from local school districts and unions and not having a strong plan in place to turn around failing schools.

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