The first quarterly reports from states on how they spent their stimulus funds will be out tomorrow, and all sides will be scrutinizing the data, especially numbers on how many jobs were saved.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who appeared with the former British Prime Minister, did suggest borrowing the idea of "knighthood" to raise the prestige of the teaching profession.

Way back in the spring, my colleague Christina Samuels wrote this story about how the U.S. Department of Education is taking a hard line with districts that aren't meeting the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Apparently, districts that aren't in compliance with the IDEA have to make sure they target special education dollars made available under the stimulus package to improving their programs for students with disabilities. They can't reduce their own contributions, as they normally would be able to under the law, now that the federal share has increased. It's a very complex, technical issue, ...

If you haven't already, you should check out my colleague Erik Robelen's story about education in this off-year election. He points out that the very tight races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia will help shed some light on how well the Democratic brand is faring, now that the party is in charge of practically everything and the economy is still slumping. The New Jersey race is close, according to these recent polls. And the GOP has an edge, according to this one from Virginia. Although it might not seem so on the surface, those gubernatorial races may matter ...

John White is moving from press secretary to rural outreach; deputies Sandra Abrevaya and Justin Hamilton will now share the press secretary title.

As the Education Secretary promotes fitness and nutrition, these onion rings likely wouldn't make his healthy foods list.

A former Obama education adviser offers skepticism of the President's education strategy.

$16.5 billion. That's the amount of money that 36 states combined will need to find, somewhere, to get back to their 2008 K-12 funding levels after stimulus money runs out. That amounts to about 10 percent of these 36 states' combined budgets, according to my own calculations of figures presented in a White House report out yesterday on the impact of the stimulus package on education jobs. This is the funding cliff that states and school districts have been warned about. States will need to replace this money at a time when the national economy only now is showing ...

This is a preview of what the public will see when the first quarterly stimulus reports are made public on Oct. 30.

So the Kevin Jennings controversy is just not going away. The latest? A group of 53 House Republicans has signed a letter to President Barack Obama calling for Jennings, who heads up the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, to resign. The letter, which is posted here, reads in part: The totality of Mr. Jennings' career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug free schools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings, who has, for more than 20 years, ...