U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan feels "very, very badly" for the children in Texas, where Republican Gov. Rick Perry has pushed through policies that have raised class sizes and cut funding, according to an interview Duncan gave on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt" airing Aug. 19- 20.

Some light beach reading for Politics K-12 readers soaking up the last couple weeks of summer: Eduwonk has some absolutely priceless back-and-forth between Diane Ravitch, and Simon & Shuster, the publishers of Class Warfare, Steven Brill's recent book on K-12 politics. If you haven't already, check out this very interesting profile of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a Republican presidential candidate. There's a lot in there on education, including on the charter school that she started for at-risk kids in Minnesota. The school nearly lost its charter because it embraced a religious viewpoint. Bachmann and another founder eventually resigned, and the ...

Montana gets to reset its proficiency targets so more schools make adequate yearly progress this year, under a deal reached with the U.S. Department of Education.

Washington state is unlikely to seek wiggle room from unspecified parts of the No Child Left Behind, in exchange for embracing certain, also unspecified, reforms.

Two GOP candidates were asked if they would continue to enforce the No Child Left Behind Act, as president. The answer was an emphatic "no"

A group of House Democrats want the U.S. Department of Agriculture to quickly finalize its proposed sweeping changes to rules about school breakfasts and lunches.

NSBA and AASA argue that, if the department wants to provide some relief from NCLB, they should do it in a state-by-state, case-by-case basis

Folks have been waiting with baited breath to find out who, exactly, is on this so-called super committee. And education advocates probably broke open the champagne when they heard that Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., was going to co-chair.

By forgoing work on a data system for teacher information, California may be jeopardizing its nearly $6 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund grant.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has opposed Race to the Top and the Common Core State Standards Initiative, both key pieces of President Barack Obama's education agenda.