The details are starting to emerge from the stimulus bill (which the House has already approved, so you'd hope the details would be out). And here's one eye-popping number: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will have a $650 million kitty he can use to fund "innovative" states, school districts, or non-profits.
Now, we're starting to get used to some really big numbers these days (an $800 billion stimulus plan; a $2.5 trillion bank bailout; etc.). But let me put that in context. Before now, the most discretionary money enjoyed by a Secretary of Education in recent history (back in 2003) was about $30 million dollars. That came through the Fund for the Improvement of Education; half was allocated by Congress for "teacher quality initiatives" and the other half was completely open-ended.
So $650 million vs. $30 million. Do the math and you'll see that this is twenty times more discretionary??money than any education secretary has had before. Wowzers!
Have a great weekend; we'll give the final stimulus package the Reform-o-Meter treatment early next week.
