A survey asks inside-the-Beltway folks and state edu-bigwigs what they think about the political landscape for education in the wake of the midterm elections.

Rumor has it that Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, could be leaving the department to serve as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Some are wondering whether Congress will try to move a more limited bill that fixes some of the issues with the current law.

Lawmakers will be waddling back to D.C. next week for a lame duck session. They still have to finish the fiscal 2011 appropriations bill that funds the Department of Education. So the big question for a lot of folks in the eduworld is ... what happens to Race to the Top? The administration asked for $1.35 billion to continue the program for an additional year, and Congress is poised to provide some of that (there's $800 million in the House version of the bill, and $675 million in the Senate). Money is tight, but a lot of folks argue ...

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, has supported money to stave off teacher layoffs and introduced a comprehensive literacy bill.

The teachers' union is taking a wait-and-see attitude about the fallout from the midterm elections for the ESEA and other issues.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, the former Denver schools superintendent, had strong backing from the National Education Association.

K-12 policy is one area where Republicans and Democrats could see eye-to-eye, President Barack Obama said today.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., released a statement today saying he's officially going to pursue the chairmanship of House Education and Labor Committee.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid prevailed against Sharron Angle, a tea-party backed candidate who ran on scrapping the U.S. Department of Education.