Gov. Beverly Perdue and top education officials will make North Carolina’s pitch for new federal funding today, speaking to a panel that will ultimately determine where more than $4.35 billion will be applied under the new Race to the Top program. North Carolina was this month named as one of 16 finalists vying for the money.

With the chance for a handsome windfall, Pitt County should look on this effort with hopeful anticipation. New funding to assist teachers and boost student achievement would be tremendously helpful for the school system here, especially at this time of a turbulent economy and expected budget constraints.

Nearly every new administration comes to Washington hoping to make strides in public education. While most try, few find success in achieving the long-term changes that alter the landscape in public schools. More mirror the efforts of the Bush administration, which worked with Congress to pass the bipartisan No Child Left Behind legislation, but failed to repair its flaws in design or funding shortages once they threatened to undermine the program.

President Barack Obama contends that Race to the Top will be different, forging a state-centric model for teacher accountability and student achievement that would significantly change the education landscape in this state. With billions in grant funding available, North Carolina joined 41 states and the District of Columbia in changing laws on charter schools and teacher evaluations to meet the program’s parameters and filing an application with Washington. This month, it was named a finalist, a bit of a surprise, and no looks to have a strong shot of receiving the federal funds.

For Pitt County, that could mean an estimated $940,000 annually to work on four areas: using more effective standards and measures for student achievement, developing high-quality educators, improving low-performing schools and tracking performance with new data systems. North Carolina is well positioned due to its ground-breaking implementation of the ABCs for Education program, with its achievement and growth models, and its work through the federal Adequate Yearly Progress measures.

However, as evaluators bring greater scrutiny to teachers, officials must be wary of alienating those at the front of the classroom. Teachers should welcome scrutiny — indeed, it can help them to succeed — but government’s approach should be to help with training and methods rather than to punish.

Should that issue be resolved, Pitt County should enthusiastically support this effort to win new federal funding. The benefit for schools could be tremendous.