Ted may love begging, but he isn't very good at it.

Earlier this year, Ohio lost out on winning millions of federal dollars under a federal program called "Race to the Top".

But that didn't mean they were done yet. All the states that lost had a chance to refile their application and increase their chances to win in a second round of awards.

Well, Ohio seems to actually be well on its way to damaging its chances.

...with the deadline for submitting signed agreements to the state just days away, only about a quarter of Ohio's 613 school districts and a third of 322 charter schools have agreed to participate.

[...]

The meager response comes despite strong encouragement from Gov. Ted Strickland, state Superintendent Deborah Delisle and two teachers unions, along with a guarantee that all districts will get at least a $100,000 share of the state's winnings.

[...]

When first-round awards were made last month, only Delaware and Tennessee were successful, and both had 100 percent of their schools participating. Ohio finished 10th with 266 school districts and 215 charter schools supporting its plan.

So last time we had 266 school districts and 215 charter schools supporting the plan.

And now we have "about a quarter", which equals 153 school districts, and "a third" of the charter schools, or 106.

Anyone starting to think Strickland couldn't sell water to a guy in the desert?

I can't say I blame the school districts. From what I understand, the requirements for accepting the federal funds don't compensate for the meager $100,000 Strickland promised.

Hopefully one of these days Democrats will learn to make do with what we've got.