After some contentious debate, the Senate adopted the FY 2009 Omnibus Spending bill that combines nine of the 12 appropriations bills At the signing ceremony Tuesday, March 10, President Obama addressed the issue that had made final passage of the budget bill so contentious - earmarks. On the campaign trail, Obama protested the practice of earmarking funds to federal agencies by members of Congress. This $410 billion Omnibus spending bill contains approximately 8,000 earmarks. Many Republicans, and some Democrats, suggested that by signing the bill he was stepping away from a campaign commitment.

Obama saw it differently. He viewed the Omnibus as the last piece of business from the previous administration. In his opinion, the bill was written many months ago and based on a budget prepared and presented by his predecessor. But to the question of earmarks, he made it clear that he wanted to see changes in the system. He wants the process to be more transparent, subject to greater scrutiny and also subject to White House rescission if the administration objects to the content. The signing of the Omnibus signaled the beginning of the FY 2010 budget and appropriations process. Time will tell whether or not the president's goals regarding earmarks will find congressional champions.

The ink of his signature on the FY 2009 spending bill was barely dry when conversation about the FY 2010 budget moved to center stage on Capitol Hill. Hearings were held throughout the week with cabinet secretaries appearing before the House and Senate Budget Committees. In spite of the fact that little budget detail has been made public, John Spratt (D-S.C.), House Budget Committee chairman, invited Arne Duncan, secretary of education, to make his first appearance as a witness before the committee. Needless to say, the conversation was long on goals and rhetoric and short on actual information about spending. It was clear the committee welcomed a secretary who has actually run a school district, who answered questions directly and whose passion and commitment to improving educational opportunities for children everywhere was so apparent.

In his testimony to the House Budget Committee and in answers to the questions that followed, Duncan echoed the remarks of Obama in his first major speech on education policy that had been delivered earlier in the week. Together they hope to start a "race to the top" rather than the bottom, regarding student expectations; inspire the best and the brightest to enter the teaching profession and compensate teachers well enough that they will want to stay; create Early Learning Challenge Grants that will help states expand birth-to-five preschool programs; press states to lift the cap on the number of charter schools in hopes of inspiring innovation; and dramatically increase financial support for college attendance and investment in programs to ensure student success. It is an extraordinarily ambitious plan that will test the new president and his secretary's talents of persuasion on Capitol Hill and across the nation. Coming on the heels of the enormous stimulus bill, it can only mean good news for education advocates.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a full committee hearing on March 10, "The Next Generation of National Service," which examined how expanding existing national service programs and creating new ones through the Serve America Act can help local communities meet the challenging issues of the day. The Serve America Act draws on some of the lessons learned over the past 20 years and creates new volunteer corps with specific missions. The legislation also increases service opportunities for older Americans who have the time and expertise to serve and supports social entrepreneurs who are developing new and effective interventions.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) chaired the hearing in place of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and read his opening statement instead of her own. Kennedy noted that service has always been supported by both parties and praised President Obama for making it an early priority of his administration to expand service opportunities across the country to involve many more Americans, young and old, in meeting the most pressing challenges of the day.

Alan Solomont, the newly appointed chairman of the Board of the Corporation for National and Community Service, noted that the hearing comes at a pivotal time for national and community service due to the current economic crisis, the strong support from the president, the bipartisan support from Congress to expand service programs and the current generation of Millennials who are looking to participate in something larger than themselves and to make a difference in their communities. Solomont said, "Today we are at an inflection point, the beginning of a new era of responsibility and citizen engagement," which includes all age groups, and the Serve America Act will help to grow national service by investing in and expanding the civic and volunteer infrastructure to support this huge influx of volunteers.

Stephen Goldsmith, vice chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, said changes are needed to take current national service programs to the next level of efficacy. Goldsmith highlighted six key principles that, in his opinion, should guide debate of both the Serve America Act and the GIVE Act, including: 1) intensifying accountability and results by tying funding to performance and increasing rigorous program evaluation, performance measures and assessments of civic health; 2) easing the burden on grantees by simplifying program management, streamlining the application and reporting process and combining funding pools; 3) providing a level playing field for faith-based and small community organizations; 4) maintaining core principles of AmeriCorps including flexibility, adaptability and a decentralized approach giving states and communities the ability to identify their own problems and needs; 5) encouraging further collaboration with other federal agencies; and 6) supporting the ability to leverage community volunteers through the creation of a Volunteer Generation Fund.

Obama Speech Highlights The Need For Education Reform: In a recent speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President Obama argued for education reform, saying, "Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance." Obama said that an overhaul of the nation's education system is an economic imperative, asserting, "We cannot afford to wait. By 2016, four out of every 10 new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training." Obama proposed five pillars of reform including: 1) investing in early childhood initiatives; 2) encouraging better standards and assessments; 3) recruiting, preparing and rewarding outstanding teachers; 4) promoting innovation and excellence in America's schools by supporting charter schools, reforming the school calendar and the structure of the school day; and 5) providing every American with a quality higher education. Read the full transcript.

ED Issues Further ARRA Guidance: On March 7, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that $44 billion for education funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will be made available to states over the next two months. The Department of Education (ED) released guidelines stating that half of the Title I, Part A stimulus funds ($5 billion) and half of the funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) ($6 billion) will be released this month. Another $700 million will be available for vocational rehabilitation state grants and impact aid construction, as well as $17.3 billion for Pell Grants and work-study funds. By the end of March, governors will also be able to apply for 67 percent of the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF) and discretionary SFSF, totaling $32.5 billion. In addition to this release of funding, ED will make an additional $35 billion in Title 1, IDEA, SFSF,and monies for other programs available between July 1 and Sep. 30. A $5 billion fund has also been established under the law for the Department of Education. This includes a $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" fund to help states with bold plans to improve student achievement and $650 million to assist school districts and nonprofit organizations with strong track records of improving student achievement. State grants will go out in two rounds over the next year, beginning in October 2009. Applications will be available later in the spring. More info. Additional details, including a category-by-category list of all ARRA funds appropriated to the Department of Education, as well as requirements and plans for their distribution are posted at here.

DQC Hosts Summit on the Use of Data to Improve Education: On March 9, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) hosted a summit on the importance of data in the school improvement arena. Stefanie Sandford from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began the summit by offering praise for the remarkable speed with which the DQC had contributed to data suddenly becoming the "hot topic" among school reformers. Several panel discussions took place during the event. The first panel addressed "Progress in Building and Using Longitudinal Data Systems." Dane Linn, education division director for the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, described how the NGA got heavily involved with educational data systems in 2005 with the topic of properly measuring and reporting graduation rates. Linn also spoke of the governors' keen interest in international benchmarking. Although it has been suggested that the development and management of high-quality data systems is costly, Linn believes the long-term efficiencies and the impact data can have on decisions around effective practice far outweigh the costs. Michael Casserly, Council of the Great City Schools, noted that if data systems are to be helpful, teachers themselves must be consulted about how they are built and the information they collect. It is imperative that there be a coherent understanding of their use and purpose. The third panel of the day included Arne Duncan, secretary of education, and George Miller (D-Calif.), House Education and Labor Committee chairman. Both acknowledged that it is an exciting time to be engaged in education reform. With $100 billion in stimulus funding on the way to states and school districts and a president who views education as the key to solving the current economic crisis, it is a time of tremendous expectation and excitement. More info.

Three New States Announce Support of Tough Choices or Tough Times Report: The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce held an event on March 10 to announce that New Mexico, Delaware and Arizona have joined Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Utah as states participating in and supporting the initiatives and reforms outlined in the Tough Choices or Tough Times report and will align their education systems with the report's recommendations. Through the report, the commission proposes a "practical approach to dramatically improving the performance of the nation's students by adopting the kinds of powerful instructional systems, based on the highest international standards." Additional recommendations include: recruiting teachers from the top third of college graduates and increasing their pay to make that possible, revamping the high school-college transition, reallocating education funding to high priority strategies for improving system performance, pre-K for all, putting more education funding behind students from low-income families and changing the way schools are managed to give teachers much more influence over the way schools are run, while holding them accountable for the results. The National Education Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers are among the groups that have been long-time advocates of the commission and the report, which was released in its first iteration years ago. More info.