No, I refer not to the failed bailout, but to the extension bill or "continuing resolution" needed now that Congress has failed to pass a 2009 budget prior to the end of the 2008 fiscal year (today). This summer, Mike offered "three cheers for broken government," noting that a continuing resolution would at least let Reading First survive another year, defying its recent death. Unfortunately, Ed Week's Alyson Klein reports that it might not be that simple:
But the stopgap bill doesn't mean federal funding of the program will be continued. The money would not be allocated to school districts until July 1. If Congress decides to eliminate the program when it returns to the education spending bills in March, schools won't receive any new Reading First money.
The extension "is essentially a moot point," said Richard Long, the director of government relations for the Newark, Del.-based International Reading Association.
So Reading First may really be dead after all, unless our new president dares heed Mike's plea to fund programs that actually work.
