We do not know, for instance, what upgrades in technology will be required. We do not know, for instance, what teaching certifications will be required by the reforms. We do not know, for instance, what additional services will be required at the school buildings that up until this point were only available at other locations. We simply don't have a clue what all these requirements will be.

However, what we do know is that the state of Michigan has already launched itself into a certain number of pre-reform reforms in the hopes it might receive some of the federal funds.

This initially appears to be a four step process. First the feds announced an exciting program that would allow the states to compete for money. Second, the states make reforms in order to make it more likely to receive the funds. Then, maybe, come the funds. Then, if and when the money comes, all the mandates that came with the money must be made.

We are now nearing step three. The announcement has been made and the states have fallen all over themselves grooming their particulars. No winners have yet been announced.

But wouldn't you know it, even before one penny from Race to the Top has been received by the money changers in Lansing, the Michigan education department is asking for an additional $500,000 in order to pay for the reforms put in place to make the state more likely to get the federal cash. In the grand scheme of things, this first $500,000 is little more than a harbinger. There will be much more to come.

From the Detroit News:

New state law requires the education department to identify the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools by Sept. 1. The roughly 170 to 200 schools on the list would be placed under the supervision of a yet-to-be-established school reform office.

Flanagan wants money to hire a reform officer and staff the department with 13 employees.

Lawmakers passed the reforms in hopes of winning money from the Obama administration's Race to the Top competition.

There's no guarantee the state will win the federal money.

We only need to look as far as the job that Robert Bobb is doing in the city of Detroit to know that there are hundreds of millions of dollars just waiting to be saved in education. We should have to look no farther than the average Michigan educator's salary and benefits to discover that taxpayers in the Great Lakes State are getting nailed to the wall by monolithic and under performing unions.

Our elected leaders and our hired educators are looking to Washington for help in solving many problems that can only be solved at the local level. We want their cash and we want their insight. (In truth, I think we want the cash a bit more.)