Congress has finalized the federal education budget for the 2012-13 school year.  With all the rhetoric about cutting federal spending, I expected deep cuts across the board.  But education actually came out fairly well. Programs receiving increases: Title I  +$60M increase IDEA  +$100M increase Head Start +$424M increase New programs New c…[Read more]

Back in August, the issue of raising the debt ceiling was all over the headlines.  But public interest has been diverted to new scandals, government upheavals across the globe, and juicy celebrity gossip. In two weeks, you will see this issue come back to the forefront.  When Congress raised the debt ceiling in August, they [...]

The Department of Education has awarded six states the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant: Georgia, $25,650,000 Louisiana, $28,500,000 Montana, $7,600,000 Nevada, $14,250,000 Pennsylvania, $38,000,000 Texas, $66,500,000 Each awarded state will hold a grant competition among school districts and early childhood…[Read more]

Have you heard about the Striving Readers grant?  This grant has not received as much attention as Race to the Top or Investing in Innovation, but it’s worth a second look. Here’s what you need to know: First, this is different funding than the 2006 Striving Readers grant focused on adolescent literacy under the Bush [...]

You may have heard recently that the House Education Committee is working on a bill to eliminate forty-three K-12 federal education programs.  Although this sounds alarming, don’t panic just yet. Here are the characteristics of most of the program cuts: Already defunded. At least 17 of the programs listed have already been defunded; some haven’t …[Read more]

Congress has trimmed $1 billion off the federal education budget for the 2011-12 school year, including all funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program.  Many school districts relied on this funding to purchase up-to-date hardware, software, and technology-related professional development.  Each state customized their g…[Read more]