I’m sure your Friday was spent sifting through the hundreds of comments submitted for the Race to the Top program. Now that you’ve digested those, check out these good reads:

*Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican from Minnesota who knows his stuff when it comes to education, is being talked up as a 2012 presidential candidate. (Nope, it’s not too early to be talking about that.)

*The recession is forcing some teacher furloughs, despite the $100 billion in stimulus aid for schools.

*Politico has more whether Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., will decide to step into the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

*Over at the National Journal’s Education Experts blog, some big names are debating school turnarounds.

*Mike Petrilli of Flypaper Fame, and Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution take a look at the impact of the No Child Left Behind law on gifted kids. Eduwonk has more.

*Speaking of NCLB, over at The School Law Blog, Mark Walshtakes a look at all of the state court rulings over the last few months that have dealt with NCLB.