The White House has announced a few more education programs that it would like to see Congress scrap in the fiscal year 2010 budget, including Civic Education and the Ready to Teach Program.

President Obama's budget to be released today will propose eliminating the $66 million Even Start family literacy program.

So it looks like President Obama is going to propose extending the D.C. voucher program, just for the kids currently enrolled, in his fiscal year 2010 budget, to be released tomorrow. Politically, it's probably a smart move. The administration will avoid stories and commentaries about kids, including a couple of Sasha and Malia's classmates at Sidwell Friends School, getting booted from their desks. But it should put an interesting twist on the debate over reauthorizing the voucher program. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an Independent Democrat from Connecticut, has said he will hold hearings on whether or not to renew the ...

Politics K-12 imagines that the communication between the President and former South Carolina education chief Inez Tenenbaum regarding her nomination to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission read something like this: Dear Inez Tenenbaum, Thanks so much for serving on my education advisory team during the campaign, and especially for being an early supporter when practically everybody else thought Hillary was going to win. Sorry I selected Arne to head up the education department, and not you. His jumpshot is dramatically better than yours. But as a token of my appreciation, you get to make sure that Barbie's hair is ...

President Obama's proposed federal budget, the real one, with numbers and everything this time, is likely to come out any day now. Usually, folks in Washington are on pins-and-needles waiting for this document, which lays out how much the administration thinks should be spent on federal programs. It includes everything from a bottom-line number for the U.S. Department of Education to spending levels for programs from Title I (which got about $14 billion in fiscal year 2009) to the Javits Gifted Education program (which got just under $7.5 million). You might recall that, a couple of months ago, ...

So if you were following the behind-the-scenes drama of the creation of the stimulus bill, you may remember that a specially dedicated fund just for school facilities, a huge priority for President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress, was stripped out at the last minute to gain the support of some moderate lawmakers. Apparently, those folks were worried about creating a brand-new government program when the feds have trouble funding the ones that already exist (special education and Title I). In the end, the stimulus included some tax incentives for school construction, and it permitted districts to use a ...

Read the education secretary's ethics letter and financial disclosure—both submitted in preparation for his confirmation hearing in January.

Some folks in Eduland sound glad the department is bringing in someone with a background in management.

Tony Miller, who has an extensive background in business, has been a key player in managing the stimulus money.

Reporter Alyson Klein brings you highlights of the back-and-forth as the House Education and Labor committee hears testimony on the push for common academic standards.