PROVIDENCE — Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in Washington on Monday that Rhode Island may be putting itself at “at a huge competitive disadvantage” for securing federal stimulus dollars.

The General Assembly’s proposed 2010 budget eliminates $1.5 million that Governor Carcieri wanted to spend to open two new charters — a middle school in Central Falls and the state’s first “mayoral academy” in Cumberland.

“Places like Rhode Island that are thinking about underfunding charters are obviously going to put themselves at a huge competitive disadvantage going forward. So we don’t think that’s a smart thing for them to do and we’re going to make that very, very clear,” Duncan told an audience of more than 3,000 people when he was asked about Rhode Island during a question period at the National Charter Schools Conference.

“Where states are considering underfunding charters, as appears to be the case in Rhode Island, they’re placing themselves at a strategic disadvantage for Race to the Top money. They’re going to hurt their chances,” he added moments later, according to U.S. Education Department officials.

The Race to the Top fund is a $5-billion discretionary pot of cash within the White House’s economic stimulus package that Duncan will distribute later this year to a handful of states with a proven track record of innovation.

For Rhode Island, that grant money — if secured — could come on top of more than $200 million that the federal government has already earmarked within the stimulus for education.

Rhode Island Board of Regents member Angus Davis, speaking on behalf of the state Education Department, said the secretary’s remarks should send a clear message to state lawmakers that they would be wise to restore the $1.5 million in new money for charters if they don’t want to jeopardize millions in additional funding.

“Secretary Duncan’s comments are entirely consistent with the comments he and the Obama administration have made about artificial limits about charter school limits,” Davis said.

House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, the chief architect of the state budget, declined to respond Monday to Duncan’s comments. Costantino has previously called the elimination of new funding for charters and the mayoral academy “a matter of fairness,” given that the state would not increase aid to local school districts.

But Carcieri, a vocal supporter of charter schools, said he has spoken with House Speaker William J. Murphy about the possibility of restoring the $1.5 million. “I told the speaker on Friday, ‘Bad mistake, we’ve got to get that money back in there.’ ” Carcieri said. “… It’s clear the secretary [of education] has a real agenda, I support that and I think we’re all trying to work together to get these things restored.”

In an interview late last week, Murphy did not rule out restoring the funds, saying only, “There will be things that will be worked on prior to the budget passing the House floor.”

The full House is expected to debate the tax-and-spend plan Wednesday afternoon.

In addition to the Mayoral Academy in Cumberland –– which has encountered union resistance as it seeks freedom from the prevailing wage, tenure and retirement-system clauses that govern other public schools –– the $1.5 million in proposed state aid would have helped create the Segue Institute for Learning, a middle school that would serve students in Central Falls.

The fate of both schools now remains unclear.

Indeed Duncan’s comments were not the first he has made about the correlation between states’ positions on charter schools and their chances of securing discretionary stimulus funding.

During a news conference in June the secretary told reporters: “States that have laws that encourage the expansion of charter schools will be better off under the Race to the Top.”

With reports from John E. Mulligan, of the Washington Bureau.

cneedham@projo.com