The White House rolled out a controversial education program the same day that massive school protests were held nationwide.

On Thursday, The Department of Education announced that 15 states and the District of Columbia were finalists for Race to the Top, a new multi-million dollar grants competition aimed at awarding successful school systems.

At the time of the announcement, hundreds of thousands of students, professors, and teachers were rallying   against school budget cuts and tuition hikes hurting K-12 and college education.

Among the states that didn't make the Race to the Top cut was California, where the bulk of Thursday's protests occurred. State education officials have had to lay off teachers, expand classrooms, and cut programs in the face of a multibillion dollar budget crisis.

They rewrote laws in the hopes of securing $700 million from the federal program, letting parents have more control over schools and linking test scores to teacher assessments.

The Los Angeles Times   writes that state officials can apply for a second round of funding, but don't know what they can do to improve their odds.

Similar frustration was voiced by officials in Wisconsin   and Minnesota , which were also left out of the program.

-- Ambreen Ali, Congress.org