A More Benign Use of the Spending Power

Is it just me or is anyone else sort of liking the Obama Administration's usage of the spending power in education. Now, granted, I sort of dislike any use of the spending power related to schools, but compared to the flashy, demanding, annoying law that NCLB was with deadlines and sanctions and public fights between the Fed. and states, the usage of the stimulus money in the Race to the Top fund has been sort of benign (but perhaps no less effective in creating policy changes?).