HOUSTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Gov. Rick Perry says Texas will not compete in Race to the Top, a move that could cost the state as much as $100 per student in federal education aid.

Perry, who has criticized Race to the Top as an attempt to impose federal standards on states, announced his decision Wednesday in Houston, The New York Times reported.


Texas might have received as much as $700 million in federal aid.

"We would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children's future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special-interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington," he said.

Perry and other Texas officials, including Education Commissioner Robert Scott, object to the program's effort to get states to accept national curriculum standards, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Many teachers and school administrators have a different view.

"I understand that we want to teach Texas history, but does Algebra I in Texas differ from Algebra I in Maine? It shouldn't," said John Folks, superintendent of San Antonio's largest school district. "I think we should be involved in the process of deciding those standards."