Almost two years into the federal Race to the Top program, states are spending their shares of the $4 billion prize at a snail's pace--a reflection of the challenges the 12 winners face as they try to get ambitious education improvement plans off the ground. Through the end of March, the 11 states and the District of Columbia had spent just 14 percent of their Race to the Top money, with New York, Rhode Island, and Hawaii spending the least as the midpoint of the four-year grants approaches, an "Education Week" analysis of federal spending reports shows. And so far, the reports show, the bulk of the early money that states have spent outside their own education departments--which are still reeling from severe budget cuts prompted by the recession--has gone to consultants. The U.S. Department of Education was concerned enough about slow spending that it highlighted the problem in its first annual report on the Race to the Top, which was released in January.