Think of the "Race to the Top" competition for federal education grants as a two-person relay. It's going to take the cooperation of both runners to come out a winner.

In Hawai'i, those runners are the Lingle administration and the state Department of Education, which must collaborate so that the state puts its best foot forward in the application for the "Race" grants, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

That would require a quantum leap in the level of cooperation between the state and DOE officials — and a far speedier timetable than what's been witnessed so far.

A status report on how the so-called stimulus bill has affected Hawai'i was the subject of a hearing by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, presided over by its chairman, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

Inouye himself cited frequent reports about the chronic disconnect between the DOE and the governor, who has no direct control over administration of schools but has the power to restrict their overall budget.

Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said in the matter of pursuing the first stimulus batch — a "stabilization" grant to offset budget cuts to schools and the University of Hawai'i — there's cooperation. But it was then distressing to hear that there still is no stabilization spending agreement, which the governor, the DOE and UH must sign. That hurdle needs to be cleared quickly so funds can start filtering into the schools.

And the feds want that to happen before the DOE would be allowed to apply for "Race to the Top" funds, totaling $4.35 billion nationally. The deadline for the first round of grants is Dec. 31, and much needs to be done to give Hawai'i a chance.

For starters: One of the selection criteria is "making education funding a priority," and education officials are worried that $468 million in cuts to the budget over two years will not help make its case.

The DOE is working on other pieces of the puzzle, including the launch of extra training for teachers in struggling schools as part of a plan to equalize teaching quality statewide.

It's heartening to see that the state already has a leg up in one measure for applicants: an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies, long a focus of the governor's own initiatives.

But clearly, making a run for this money will be a team sport. The public can only hope that the governor and the DOE are willing to play ball to win desperately needed education revenues, when the welfare of Isle students is at stake.