Just 24 hours ago I wrote about the news that President Obama will propose to freeze discretionary spending in his State of the Union address tonight. While word had leaked that education would be exempt, I reasoned that k-12 schools still wouldn't see much of an increase in an era of tight budgets.
Well, never mind. Today the Washington Postreports that schools will receive a $4 billion boost, including one billion to aide with the overhaul of No Child Left Behind. (HT to MW.)??I guess Eduwonk Andy was right: the $110 billion of education stimulus money wasn't enough to bribe the education groups into going along with a reform proposal; they needed to add a few more billion into the kitty too. (Though Andy now wonders if $4 billion is enough; come on, Andy, these groups can up the ante without your help!)
You can be sure of two things: when it comes to education funding, Congress will do whatever it wants to do, and the education groups will scream that they still want more.
-Mike Petrilli
