In fact, he passed up higher-scoring, more-urban districts in favor of funding a group of 17 school systems in Kentucky's rural Appalachia and a small, mostly black district in the Mississippi Delta. Of the five winners announced last month, Houston was the only large, urban district.
"We want to make sure we're serving children across the country," Mr. Duncan said in a call with reporters announcing the winners. The goal, he said, is to "get a mix of innovation in very different communities."
He did, however, acknowledge that there were far more deserving applications than money to pay for them.
