Here’s a quick look at the news from last week (September 24-28) in Washington.

ADMINISTRATION
On Friday, the Administration released FY2010 2-year and FY2009 3-year student loan cohort default rates for institutions of higher education.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he will likely stay on as Education Secretary if President Obama is elected for a second term.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Both Presidential candidates gave speeches at NBC’s 2012 Education Nation Summit last week. Neither candidate differed in their remarks from previous education positions, but Governor Romney did state that he believes the federal government should not fund any aspect of the development of the common core standards.
Transcripts:
President Barack Obama’s speech
Gov. Mitt Romney’s speech

HOUSE and SENATE
There is not expected to be any legislative activity from either the House or Senate until after Election Day.

House Education & the Workforce Senior Democrat George Miller (D-CA) sent a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, asking the Department of Education to look into graduation rate measures under the states’ ESEA flexibility waivers.

BUDGET
The House and Senate passed the six month Continuing Resolution (CR) that will keep the federal government operating through the end of March 2013. The CR was signed by the President on Friday, September 28th.