Hawai'i education officials are not confident the state will be able to obtain some of the $4.35 billion in federal "Race to the Top" grant money for the nation's schools.

That's because Hawai'i may not meet some proposed qualification guidelines from the U.S. Department of Education.

States will be scrutinized on everything from public school budget cuts to whether their laws prohibit the use of testing data in teacher evaluations to whether they provide equitable funding to charter schools, according to the draft guidelines.

Their biggest concern, say Hawai'i officials, is that $468 million in cuts to the state Department of Education's budget over the next two years may hamper the state's application for the additional federal funding.

Applications are due in December.

"Our overall financial situation is of concern in getting money through Race to the Top," said Garrett Toguchi, chairman of the state Board of Education.

"If the Legislature and the governor were to take the steps (to increase education funding) ... we could leverage those activities to support our application. The fact that we're not doing anything doesn't support our case," Toguchi said.

The federal government will use 19 criteria to evaluate whether a state will receive money.

Bob Campbell, director of the DOE's federal compliance office, said the government will be looking for "evidence that you can really push their education agenda forward."

The Obama administration's criteria include an emphasis on equitable distribution of teachers between affluent and poor schools, using student data to improve student performance and improving the lowest-performing schools — all things Hawai'i could achieve, Campbell said.

"I think we can be competitive in the first go around. But certainly we will be competing against some of the more recognized states who are fairly savvy at showing that they are leaders," Campbell said. "I think we could put together a fairly strong application."

But Alvin Parker, chairman of the Charter School Review Panel, said the state may have a difficult time meeting criteria requiring that charter schools receive approximately the same amount of money as traditional public schools.

"It's on the record that there are people within my own constituency who believe there isn't equitable funding," Parker said. "It's going to be interesting to see an evaluation of the state's charter school movement from the federal perspective."

Parker said that this year charter schools receive $5,536 per student, while the DOE's most recent per-pupil dollar amount for traditional high schools is estimated at more than $11,000. However, state officials say that the DOE provides special education and other services to charter schools.

The federal guidelines also specify that states must not prohibit the use of test scores in evaluating teacher performance.

While Hawai'i does not have such a law, the Hawaii State Teachers Association has opposed using test scores in teacher evaluations.

"We are very concerned about that," said Wil Okabe, president of the HSTA. "That is only going to lead to teachers teaching to the test."