The state Department of Education got what amounts to a lump of coal in its Christmas stocking from the Obama administration. Lagging progress in its $75 million Race to the Top educational reform program had placed the award at "high-risk status." This gives Hawaii the dishonorable distinction of being first among the states honored with the grant to now face the possibility of losing the money.

Federal officials have good reason for concern about Hawaii’s progress. A number of the planned initiatives, including several to assure teacher quality, have been hobbled by delays in finalizing contracts with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, still embroiled with the administration of Gov. Neil Abercrombie in a prohibited-practices case before the Hawaii Labor Relations Board.

It’s all devastating news, completely deflating anyone’s expectations that business as usual would be enough to finish the job.

The powers behind the public schools system will have to rally — and fast — to regenerate some momentum behind the Race to the Top proposal. That blueprint remains a reasonable plan to boost academic performance across the board, especially at the isles’ poorer schools. But a blueprint is nothing without aggressive action, and that’s needed on several fronts:

» Rightly, Abercrombie said he’d seek to expedite the labor case; it has dragged on since summer, with the HSTA’s attorney probing witness after witness. Union President Wil Okabe said this week that "we want to resolve the situation," but those are empty words unless they come with an actual game plan.

The state and the union must jointly develop a calendar of action for completing the improvements mandated by the Race to the Top plan. Hard deadlines, not empty platitudes, are needed. Both sides need to bring the HLRB case to a speedy close so that these deadlines can be met.

» The state Board of Education, the policy driver behind the DOE, has a job to do, too, holding the department accountable for meeting its deadlines. One of the selling points for an appointed board was a greater capacity for unified action, with all the members answerable to the governor. Abercrombie wanted the education buck to stop at his office. Well, it has. Now is the time for Abercrombie and BOE Chairman Don Horner to exercise their authority by overseeing the department and demanding results.

» As for the DOE itself, it appears that the Race priorities got a little lost in the weeds of dealing with budget cuts and other administrative duties of a new school year. Some of the improvements the feds found too slow in coming were delayed because of the procurement process.

For example, said state schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, a consultant was hired to help with developing the teacher performance evaluation, but only after this contract and others "were sitting in the queue too long." Matayoshi said the department has pulled together the Race procurements and put a team solely in charge of getting these through the hoops.

The fact that it took a federal threat to make this common-sense change happen is somewhat disquieting, but that is the kind of focus that’s needed.

The superintendent said the department needs further specifics on what precisely the federal DOE finds lacking in some of its initiatives.

For example, she said, the "induction and mentoring" program for teachers, in which deficient progress was noted, has earned praise from a professional center that deals with new-teacher training, so DOE officials are puzzled by the slap on the wrist they got there. Better guidance is needed from Washington, advice that should be forthcoming in a series of conferences set for January.

The DOE now will be held on a tighter rein, having to report more frequently on its progress, and Matayoshi said she welcomed the opportunity to tell the feds more about advances that are being made.

That would be good, and not just for the $75 million at stake. Those who depend on the public school system to ramp up its service to students need to be reassured that a decent education — one delivered by well-trained and accountable teachers — can be within the reach of every child, rich or poor.