New Jersey failed in its quest to receive up to $400 million in federal "Race to the Top" funding for education reform, according to an announcement made by United States Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Nine states and the District of Columbia will receive money in the second round of the $4.35 billion competition for school reform grants.

The 10 winning applicants are the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. The funding amounts awarded to each vary, ranging from $700,000 for New York and Florida, to $75,000 for the smaller Hawaii, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.

Duncan said the department received "many more competitive applications than money to fund them," and said hopes are to create a Phase 3 of Race to the Top next year. His statement did not address areas where the states that did not receive money fell short.

New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler issued a statement that said he was disappointed that the state was not selected. “Our commitment to bold, meaningful reform remains firm, " he said.

New Jersey’s score in the second round could not be obtained yet.

In the first round of Race to the Top, New Jersey lost the most points for failing to prove it could execute its reform plans with broad stakeholder support. New Jersey also lost 20 points in the 500 point competition for not implementing a state-wide longitudinal data system to track students’ academic progress, a category in which both first-round winners Tennessee and Delaware received perfect scores.

Results from the competition’s first round highlighted a number of recent legislative reforms enacted by Race to the Top’s second-round winners. Six of the 10 second-round winners adopted Common Core Standards, and New Jersey did as well. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York passed new laws lifting or easing caps on their number of charter schools. Three second-round winners and both first-round winners enacted legislation tying teacher evaluations to student achievement data.

New Jersey’s application could have been more competitive if the state had done more to change the way it evaluates and retains teachers. This change could have been made, and could still be made in the future, through regulation, not legislation, said Frank Belluscio, director of communications for the New Jersey School Boards Association.