The Senate's original bill would have provided between $120 billion and $140 billion for education. The amendment would dial that back to about $80 billion.

Rumor has it that, compared with the original Senate version, the deal now on the table would sizably scale back increases to education.

Here's a roundup of stories to tide you over while you're waiting for the verdict on the stimulus package...

I've heard from folks up on the Hill that an amendment to be introduced by Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, could significantly scale back the nearly $140 billion education funding in the Senate's version of the proposed economic stimulus package. The items targeted include at least $24.8 billion to be cut from the $79 billion State Stabilization Fund, $6.75 billion out of the more than $13 billion for special education, $6.5 billion from Title I out of $13 billion, and $50 million from the proposed $100 million Teacher Quality Enhancement grant program. Advocates are ...

First, there was Broader, Bolder, then there was Education Equality. Now, there's a new consensus. At a two-day summit in Washington, a group of 14 education policy leaders, including Linda Darling-Hammond, the NEA’s John I. Wilson, and two former governors, pieced together a set of six recommendations to President Obama. The forum was sponsored by the HOPE Foundation, a Bloomington, Ind.-based organization that works to support education leaders. (A complete roster of the group is pasted at the end of this item. They're pictured in the photo at left, which is courtesy of the HOPE Foundation. Click to ...

The education department announced today that President Obama has nominated Education Trust vice president Russlynn Ali as the new assistant secretary for civil rights. The EdTrust, of course, is very pro-accountability and championed NCLB as it was being written. And, Ali has done a lot of work on teacher quality and compensation issues. She's also the executive director of the group's West Coast arm, Education Trust-West. Of course, we're still waiting for the official word on who will be Duncan's deputy secretary....

President Obama continued his pitch for the economic stimulus package today, even as the Senate debates the future of this mega-billion-dollar package. His audience this afternoon, in addition to the media, was a class of 2nd graders at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington. (This, by the way, was a school Sara Mead of the New America Foundation suggested the president look at for his own kids.) This marks his first official school visit as president. And, as a colleague so astutely pointed out, his first visit is to a charter school. Is he making a statement? According to ...

It's a busy day on the North side of the Capitol. The Senate is debating its $888 billion version of the economic stimulus package, with an eye towards passing it by the end of the week and getting it to President Barack Obama for his signature And former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.C., pulled himself out of the running for Secretary of Health and Human Services because of problems with unpaid taxes. So far, Republicans in the Senate seem to be echoing many of the arguments against the stimulus made by their colleagues in the House: That much of the ...

For those wondering which regulations new education secretary Arne Duncan might have his eye one, make sure the new graduation rate rules are on your list. One of the last things former education secretary Margaret Spellings did was usher through new regulations establishing a uniform way of calculating graduation rates across states, similar to what the governors voluntarily agreed to do in 2005. At issue is what defines a high school graduate, at least for accountability and statistical purposes. Should a high school get credit just for students who get a diploma within four years? What about those who take ...

First lady Michelle Obama dropped by the Department of Education this afternoon for a meet-and-greet/pep rally to honor career employees, the first in what's supposed to be a series of such sessions at various cabinet agencies. The roughly 350 employees who gathered for the event cheered, applauded, and used cellphone cameras to take pictures of the first lady. Seventeen of the agency's longest-serving employees, some of whom have spent decades at the department, stood behind Obama as she spoke. —Christopher Powers/Education Week "I am a product of your work," she told the crowd. "I wouldn't be here if ...