RENO — After months of preparation to apply for up to $160 million in federal funding, Nevada was not selected as a finalist for President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top program to provide a financial boost for reform in public schools.

Nineteen finalists, including the District of Columbia, had a shot at earning a portion of $3 billion in the second round of funding.

Washoe County School District officials took the lead in the Silver State during a year-long process to submit an extensive application, which was filed in May.

“We’re obviously very disappointed,” district spokeswoman Nancy Leuenhagen said.

“We weren’t able to do a round one application, which was something that did not help our cause,” Washoe County School District Superintendent Heath Morrison said Tuesday. “We’re going to have to see as a state can we still (create reform) without those federal dollars.”

Nevada was the only state ineligible to apply for the first round of funding, which had a January deadline. The state was ineligible because of a statute that banned the use of student test score data for the purpose of evaluating teacher performance.

The Nevada Legislature amended the wording of the law during its February special session, refining language requested by a teachers union that teachers’ evaluations cannot be based solely on test scores.

Gov. Jim Gibbons threatened to veto the proposed language, but eventually signed the legislation.

Kristen McNeill, director of state and federal programs for the school district, said the application process was rigorous and district officials were disappointed.

“It hurts,” she said.

States had to submit plans to reform in the realms of standards and assessments; data systems and accountability; teacher and principal evaluations; alternative roads to teacher licensure; turning around low-performing schools; as well as fiscal sustainability of any new programs created by Race to the Top funding after the grant money runs out.

Applications were scored by points according to particular criteria based on the states’ plans to improve schools aggressively.

While the WCSD knows that it did not win enough points to get the funding, staff are still waiting to hear how they fared comparatively.

McNeill said the district will not receive word until after the winners of the second-round funding have been named in Washington, D.C. in early August.

“Most of Nevada’s application spoke to how we want to reform education,” McNeill said.

She said district officials dedicated many hours to completing the application and had high hopes, considering Nevada’s low rank in the United States for education.

“With where Nevada was education funding-wise and with the jobless rate, I don’t think there’s a person in this country who doesn’t know Nevada’s need,” she said.

Morrison said he spoke with officials from the U.S. Department of Education early on Tuesday and gathered preliminary thoughts about Nevada’s standing.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “We’d like to know where we did do well, where we have missed opportunities and those areas in the grant we knew we weren’t going to get points because we haven’t done those things as a state.”

In a statement sent out Tuesday Sen. Harry Reid expressed his disappointment with Gibbons’ “lack of leadership.”

“While governors from other states were aggressively working to pass new reform laws and position their states to take advantage of these important funds, our governor was satisfied with only meeting the minimum requirement to file our application,” Reid said. “His delay in addressing Nevada’s eligibility prevented the state from submitting an application for the first round of funding.”

According to the Associated Press, finalists for the second round are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

McNeill added that the district’s recent award of the School Improvement Grant (SIG), however, will light the way to improve the Silver State’s application for Race to the Top in the future. The SIG funding is dedicated toward the improvement of low-performing schools.

“These SIG schools, they’re going to be doing some very up-to-date revolving around science and technology,” she said. “We’re going to make sure our kids are prepared for the 21st century. These SIG schools will be able to be innovative schools as far as what they can do with their funding.”