Bills Moving Today.  The Senate's education funding article passed the Tax Committee today and now will be re-referred back to the Senate Finance Committee where it will be folded into an omnibus supplemental funding bill that will contain all the spending the Senate will be proposing this year.  It was unclear if the House was planning to follow suit with a single supplemental funding bill, but in tonight's House Ways and Means Committee--where the House's education funding/policy bill was heard and approved--it was announced that the House will also be rolling all of its proposed spending into one bill.  That bill will be HF 2749/SF 2356.  The only question that remains is whether or not the Senate will fold its division policy bills into the supplemental budget bill.  The House committees have been folding their policy division bills into their funding bills, replicating a pattern followed in most years, but the Senate has moved its policy provisions separately, at least in the area of education.  Just another thing to be ironed out as the session continues to move forward.  We're closing in on having a mere four weeks to finish things up and we'll have to see how things turn out.

National Public Radio Series on Education.  I'll admit I almost drove off the road yesterday (no, I wasn't texting on my cell phone).  I was listening to NPR's Morning Edition when I heard the phrase "educational equity" come from the person being interviewed, which of course sent my heart all aflutter.  NPR will be doing a series of stories on the education funding and how it is handled by various states.  Below is a link to the first story.  If you look at the map that shows how districts throughout the country fare when compared to the national average, you will see that the color assigned to 10% to 33% below the national average of per pupil funding looks like it could be the official color for Schools for Equity in Education.  Gee, too bad.  I've always loved our blue logo.

Anyway, here is the story:  Why America's Schools Have a Funding Problem